Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: War Eagles of Heartland
by Swift4Sweeper
Summary: They could've stopped at destroying his home, but they had to make it even more personal. They had to take his little sister. There will be no place they can hide from them. There will be no lengths that they won’t go to succeed. There will be no running from the warriors of Heartland. An alternate re-telling of ARC-V with an OC, plus more legacy characters and plot information.
1. The Eagles of War

**This has been in the works for a VERY long time. It's taken a lot of thought and planning just to get started on this, and even after I had all of my ideas, I wasn't sure if I wanted to upload this here on FanFiction. The reason? I had writer's block for the longest time and couldn't think of a good way for Mega Evolution Escapades to continue. Couple that with some personal losses in your family and you've got one serious case of extended brainlock. So I started reading a lot more stories on FanFiction to get the creative juices pumping and this is what I've got. This story has the same premise as ARC-V, but there are some changes to the story. I made this because I enjoyed ARC-V, and while it did have its issues, I feel as though this story could make you see the canon in a better light.**

 **As a side-note, I won't be accepting OC submissions. I feel as though it got way too out of hand with M.E.E., which is one reason I couldn't find a good way to continue the story,** **but I WILL accept ideas for original cards. While I may not actually use them, I'm only one person and my creativity can only get me so far. XD**

 **I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

Total devastation...that was the only way someone would have been able to describe the scene before him if he had been asked to do so. What was once a beautiful city, flourishing with the smiles of millions, was now a metropolis of complete despair.

Standing on the wreckage of what was once the city hall of Heartland City was a tall teenager with dark teal hair outcropped with emerald bangs. He wore a red pirate-style headscarf that hid most of his hair, as well as his left eye, while resting on the headscarf was a pair of hexagonal translucent goggles. He wore a black windbreaker that had several tears and patches overtop of a red muscle shirt, along with black pants and black combat boots.

As the young man gazed upon the ruins of Heartland City, a tear ran down his face. "...What did we ever do to deserve this...why did they have to do this to our people…"

" _You keep asking that question as if someone will give you the answer."_ said an invisible voice. The young man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. He flipped the top card over, revealing a card with a black border and a picture of an armored eagle holding a sniper rifle.

"Why shouldn't I ask it over and over again?" argued the teenager, huffing in slight annoyance. "Haven't we suffered enough? Have we not earned the right to know why our entire city has been reduced to a pile of rubble underneath a smoky gray sky?"

" _You are not alone in wondering why this has happened. 3 months ago, if you had told me that the city of light would be turned into the municipality of anguish and hopelessness, I would have called you crazy. Now, however…"_ replied the voice, trailing off. The teenager jumped off of the ruins and onto the destroyed streets of Heartland. As he landed, his left leg gave out on him, introducing his hands to the uneven terrain caused by the fighting.

"Stupid leg...I'll need to restabilize it when we get back...guess that means walking all the way back to HQ is out of the question...we've lost so many friends in this ordeal...most of our friends from the Diamond and Heart Branches have been sealed inside those horrid prisons of those fiendish invaders...Dextra...Nistro...Anna...so many more..." The teenager stopped in the middle of the street and looked back at the overturned card. "I'm worried about Shay...he comes back after days of being gone and says that the leader of these invaders has a son in the Standard Dimension, and he refuses to talk to anyone but Yuto...the two of them are planning something and I keep worrying...ever since she was taken, the two of them have been reckless, acting irrationally, and lashing out against anyone who tries to get close to them. Yuto won't tell me about what happened in that duel between him and the "Pawn of Fusion," but whatever it was had him angry...and possibly a little spooked too..."

" _I agree, and whatever they are planning will most likely be executed soon."_ agreed the voice to the teenager's observations. " _Have you told anyone else about this?"_

"I told the Kastle twins, along with the Arclights. If it is true that those two are planning something, they said that would be prepared to stop them from taking any action with consulting everyone else first." said the teen.

" _What about Mister Cipher?_ " asked the voice, emphasizing the last two words with a hint of disgust.

"Don't talk that way about Kite." admonished the teen, sighing in exasperation. "I know you've been worrying that his ace has been influencing him for the worse, but as long as Hart and his father are still safe, and as long as he has his other dragon with him, he will be fine. Kite has a strong heart. He can resist this so-called "temptation" that you speak of. Besides, Alex and Sarah are keeping an eye on him. If his demeanour changes, we'll know."

As the teen resumed walking, he began thinking to himself. ' _Whatever those two are planning, I'll make sure that they stay out of trouble. If they're doing what I think that they are, they can't go at it alone...it's a job that requires more than two people...in that case…'_ The teen perked his head up, sensing motion behind him. He closed his eyes and smirked. "There's another job that requires more than two people...that job being taking me down...but here you are alone once again. I don't know if you whether to call you brave...or stupid. I will say this though, you sure are persistent. Why don't you come on out for round three? Barrett!"

From behind a collapsed building emerged a large man with a stocky build. He had gray, spiky, swept back hair, and crimson eyes. He wore a green jacket with four visible pouches on the chest area and sleeves, overtop of a black shirt and what appeared to be bandages that covered his forearms. He also wore gray pants with a black belt and black shoes. His neck was adorned with a silver pendant, while his left eye was covered by a black eyepatch, but it could not hide the massive scar on his face, nor could his shirt hide the X-shaped scar on his chest.

"...I will never give up on defeating you." said the man called Barrett. "I will avenge the disgraces that you have inflicted upon me, and I will take you down in the name of the men you annihilated one that day, and in the name of Duel Academy."

"Your speech is getting a little boring." yawned the teen. "This is the third time that I have heard that trash. Besides, you weren't the only one wounded that day by my action, remember?"

"At least I duel with honor." said Barrett blankly. "I have been in countless battles and fought each one with a warrior's strength and pride. You and your Resistance attack us under the cover of darkness, reducing our numbers like cowards, rather than meeting us face-to-face with true pride."

"YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT PRIDE?!" exploded the teen. "You and your Fusion freak shows invade our city, trapping millions of innocent people into card prisons, all while claiming that Fusion is the superior to all! You have no honor! All I see are a bunch of spineless fiends with a bloodlust unlike anything ever seen before! But we will not fall! When you take one down, a dozen will rise to take their place! We will not be defeated by the likes of you Fusion vermin!"

"You dare insult our pride?!" shouted Barrett, losing his cool. "There is no greater insult to a duelist! The only way to remove this tarnish is to defeat you here and now! It's time to let our beasts tussle!" He then revealed a shield-shaped Duel Disk with a light forest green-trim and dark-green body. An orange sword-shaped blade then appeared from the side of the Disk, Barrett angling his Disk so that the tip of the blade pointed directly at his opponent. "Today the War Eagle of Heartland will fall! Today is the day where the Professor will reward me greatly for my triumph! Today is the day that your flight path ends, Aren Obsidian!"

The teen, now revealed to be named Aren, simply smiled with a sinister grin. "That's right! It's time to let our cards do the action!" Rather than pulling out a Duel Disk, Aren simply extended his left arm, still completely covered by his jacket sleeve. Out of thin air, a silver blade in the shape of an extended bird wing appeared in front of his arm. A metal holster appeared on the silver blade opposite of the end with the wing's feathers, which Aren put his deck into, the cards shuffling themselves for a moment before stopping.

" **Let's Duel!"** shouted both men, drawing five cards from their deck.

"The first move is mine, Aren." stated Barrett. "From my hand I activate the Continuous Spell Beastborg Fusioner! With this card's effect, I can Fusion Summon a Beastborg Fusion Monster using Monsters in my hand or on my field as material! I fuse Panther Warrior **(ATK: 2000, DEF: 1600 / LV: 4)** and Dark Sentinel **(ATK: 1500, DEF: 1800, LV. 4)**!" The two Monsters rose up, before glowing and spiraling together into a portal. "My new Monster will take the savagery of a jungle hunter with the attack strength of a high-tech combat machine! I Fusion Summon the most dangerous mercenary you've ever faced! Beastborg Panther Predator!" **(ATK: 1600, DEF: 2000 / LV: 6)** A mechanized panther with a teal cape and gold-hilted broadsword appeared in front of Barrett.

"I hate reruns." muttered Aren. "Whether it be TV shows or monsters in duels, I hate it when my opponent's don't come up with anything original. Every duel you've summoned this monster."

"How's this for originality?!" roared Barrett. "I activate Polymerization, fusing Carrier Sentinel **(ATK: 1000, DEF: 1600 / LV. 4)** and Pitch-Black Warwolf **(ATK: 1600, DEF: 600 / LV. 4)** from my hand!" The other two Monsters rose up, before glowing and spiraling together into an identical swirling portal. "With these two battle-worn monsters, I'll call forth a Beastborg that rules the battlefield with shock and awe! I Fusion Summon! Advance to the front lines, Beastborg Wolf Kämpfer!" **(ATK: 2200, DEF: 1500 / LV. 6)**

"Two Fusion Summons in one turn?" questioned Aren. "I guess it would be expected if you could do that much, Fusion follower."

"I activate Panther Predator's special ability!" said Barrett. "Once per turn you take damage equal to half of his attack points!" Panther Predator unleashed a red beam from the crimson circle on its chest, which struck Aren in the stomach, pushing him back a little bit.

 **AREN LP: 4000 - 3200**

"Then I'll place one card face down and end my turn." concluded Barrett, a card materializing in front of him facing the ground.

"There's that rerun thing again...dealing 800 damage on his first turn is how he always starts out...it's my turn so I'll draw!" shouted Aren, drawing a card from his deck. "From my hand I summon Enigma Eagle - Craft Hawk!" In front of Aren appeared a human-sized eagle/hawk hybrid, which wielded a glowing hammer. **(ATK: 1200, DEF: 1200 / LV. 4)** "Since this high-flying bird is the only Enigma Eagle card on my field, his special ability lets me add one Enigma Eagle Spell Card from my Deck to my hand by not letting him attack this turn, and the card that I choose is the Equip Spell Enigma Eagle's Typhoon Talon! But before I put that to use, I activate the special ability of the Enigma Eagle Kingpin Passerine in my hand! I can Special Summon him to the field by destroying one Enigma Eagle card on my field! Craft Hawk, stand down so that an even more powerful aerial warrior can emerge! Come forth, Enigma Eagle - Kingpin Passerine!" As Craft Hawk disappeared, a larger eagle with the traits of a passerine emerged, clothed in steel armor and wielding a fencing blade. **(ATK: 2300, DEF: 1500 / LV. 6)**

At the sight of the new monster, Barrett growled. 'I know what comes next." he muttered, a bead of sweat rolling off of his face.

"I would hope you do Barrett, because when Kingpin Passerine is Special Summoned onto my field, he can call his brothers from my Deck to join him on the field! So from my Deck two more Kingpin Passerines are coming at you!" Two identical birds joined the one already one the field. "But of course this powerful effect has a price, the 2 new copies have to give up half of their attack and defense points and the ability to attack during this turn." **(Kingpin Passerine #2 and #3 ATK: 2300 - 1150, DEF: 1500 - 750)**

' _3 Level 6 monsters...is he calling it out?'_ thought Barrett.

"Time for a change up, something which you Fusion folk don't seem to know how to do!" taunted Aren. "Now I'll activate the Equip Spell that I added to my hand, Enigma Eagle's Typhoon Talon! I'll equip it onto my strongest Kingpin!" The middle Kingpin Passerine's talons began glowing an intense shade of jade green. "Though only the equipped Monster can attack while this card is on the field, I can still take out your arsenal, Barrett! Kingpin Passerine, attack Panther Predator! Valiant Slash!" Kingpin slashed the mechanized panther from chest to hip, causing the Fusion monster to explode in a shower of yellow sparkles.

 **BARRETT LP: 4000 - 3300**

"I'm not through yet, because Kingpin Passerine can attack twice per turn!" shouted Aren. "Turn your sword upon Wolf Kämpfer! Valiant Slash!" The Enigma Eagle slashed the other Beastborg Monster, causing it to explode just like Panther Predator.

 **BARRETT LP: 3300 - 3200**

"Now the effect of Typhoon Talon kicks in!" said Aren. "Since Kingpin dealt you at least 800 points of damage during this turn, Typhoon Talon let's me destroy one Spell or Trap card on your field! So I think I'll get rid of your Continuous Spell: Beastborg Fusioner!" A cyclone suddenly emerged from Kingpin's talons, blowing Barrett's spell off of the field and into his Graveyard.

"You pay for that one, Aren." growled Barrett.

"Not likely Mr. Eyepatch." taunted Aren. "I'll place two cards face down and end my turn."

"Don't forget War Eagle, that when you destroy my Beastborg Fusioner Monsters, I can resurrect their Fusion Material Monsters from my Graveyard, giving me a nearly full field of weapons who can shred and blast you to bits!" said Barrett. "Typical move of you Resistance rabble rousers. You refuse to accept that you can't win, so you make desperate moves just to reduce our life points at the cost of leaving yourself wide open for even greater maneuvers!"

"Says the guy who is 0-2 against me." muttered Aren. The invisible voice began snickering in amusement. Barrett, who could not hear the second voice but who did hear Aren's snide remark, narrowed his uncovered eye.

"It's my turn!" roared Barrett, who drew his card with such force that a gust of wind kicked up, blowing dirt and debris into Aren's face. Aren managed to protect his eyes, but he could feel his cheeks being scratched up by the small pebbles mixed in the dust. "I activate my Trap card, Beastborg Medal of the Eternal Machine!" Barrett's facedown card rematerialized in front of him, before flipping up, revealing a picture of a medal emblazoned with the crest of a glowing machine. "With this card's effect, I can send banish all four of the Monsters on my field to bring back Beastborg Panther Predator and Beastborg Wolf Kämpfer!" The four monsters on Barrett's field suddenly disappeared, and from a black portal emerged his two Fusion Monsters. "Panther Predator's ability activates! You'll take another 800 points of damage!" Aren was once against struck by the mecha-panther's red beam.

 **AREN LP: 3200 - 2400**

"Battle!" called out Barrett. "Panther Predator, attack the Kingpin Passerine on the left! Industrial Savage!" Panther Predator lunged at the Enigma Eagle, slashing it's midsection with its metal-coated fangs. Kingpin Passerine let out a weak cry before dissolving into yellow sparkles.

 **AREN LP: 2400 - 1950**

"Since you just took damage, Wolf Kämpfer's effect activates, hitting you with 300 points of damage!" said Barrett. The robotic wolf let loose three small missiles, which exploded on the ground right in front of Aren, kicking up a plume of smoke.

 **AREN LP: 1950 - 1650**

"Now Wolf Kämpfer will attack the Kingpin Passerine on the right! Go, Missile Bombardment!" The wolf unleashed several larger missiles, which exploded upon contact with the second Enigma Eagle monster.

"Ah!" yelled Aren as he was flung backward, his back hitting a piece of rock.

 **AREN LP: 1650 - 600**

" _Aren!"_ cried the invisible voice with worry, watching the War Eagle struggle to his feet.

Just as he managed to stand up, he was bombarded by three more small missiles due to the effect of Wolf Kämpfer.

 **AREN LP: 600 - 300**

"You're through Aren!" roared Barrett. "I activate from my hand the Quick-Play Spell, Beastborg Unity! So by preventing you from taking any more damage this turn, I can Fusion Summon a new Beastborg Fusion Monster! I fuse together Panther Predator and Wolf Kämpfer!" The two Fusion Monsters spiraled into the Fusion portal, before joining together in an intense light. "By combining the ferocity of these two mechanized monsters, I'll call forth a hunter that will end you permanently! I Fusion Summon Beastborg Jaguar Gladiator!" Barrett's new Monster was a jaguar armored in futuristic armor, a glowing blade of energy emerging from its left knuckles. A blue transparent visor covered its eyes, but it couldn't hide the feral, bloodthirsty look gleaming from them. **(ATK: 2800, DEF: 2500 / LV. 8)**

"So maybe you _do_ know something about originality Barrett." gasped Aren, clutching his chest. "That new monster may look impressive, but you can't deal me any more damage this turn due to the Trap's effect!"

"I won't need to." said Barrett, causing Aren's eyes to widen. "When he's successfully Fusion Summoned, Jaguar Gladiator not only gains 1000 attack points for each Fusion Monster used as Fusion Material, but he can also destroy one monster on your field! So say goodbye to your last Kingpin Passerine!" Aren's final Enigma Eagle screeched before dissolving like his identical comrades. **(Beasborg Jaguar Gladiator ATK: 2800 - 4800)** "Furthermore, at the end of your next turn, you'll take 200 points of damage multiplied by the total Levels of the Beastborg Monsters in my Graveyard. I end my turn. Face it War Eagle, your wings have been clipped. You have no Monsters on your field and only 300 LP. Even if you have four cards in your hand, you can't take out my 4800 attack point Monster AND reduce my life points to 0 before the end of your turn when Jaguar Gladiator's effect kicks in. You're done."

"...I can't lose…" muttered Aren quietly, causing Barrett to become silent. "I can't lose until I can take back what you took from me!" Barrett's eye widened as Aren became surrounded in a green aura, taking a step back in surprise. "It wasn't bad enough that you Fusion freaks trashed my home, but you added personal insult when you took my little sister from me." An image of a 14 year old girl with black hair and purple bangs, ruby red eyes, wearing a yellow dress, a red Resistance cloth as a skirt, black leggings, and a bracelet shaped like a dove's wing with a yellow gem embedded in its center flashed in his mind. "She means everything to me, and I will get her back, no matter how many of my morals I have to break in order to do so!"

While Barrett said nothing, he couldn't help but admire Aren's determination. ' _I too have someone that I will protect with my life. She may be a rebellious one, but she is the Professor has his eye on the most...her and that heartless personal enforcer of his…and no matter where she may run off to, I will always protect her from harm…'_

"I DRAW!" Aren drew his card with such ferocity that a small tornado whipped up around his legs. Aren's eyes glinted as he saw his drawn card. ' _Lulu, lend me your strength!'_ he thought to himself.

"I activate the Spell Card Lyrilusc - Bird Perch!" shouted Aren, slamming a card on his silver Duel Disk blade. A card depicting a tiny female bird snoozing on a tree branch materialized in front of the War Eagle.

"What the-?!" said Barrett in disbelief. "I've never seen that card in our previous duels!"

"Well you're seeing it now and I'll tell you what it does!" countered Aren. "It lets me Special Summon a Level 1 Winged Beast-type Monster from my Deck to my field! So I'll call forth Enigma Eagle - Rabbelrobin!" A tiny half-hatched eaglet/robin hybrid still in a turquoise egg appeared in front of Aren, chirping softly." **(ATK: 0, DEF: 0 / LV. 1)**

"You call that a Monster?" laughed Barrett. "It can't do anything to hurt me!"

"True, it may not have enough attack points to harm you or destroy your Fusion Monster, but his special ability more than makes up for it! When Rabbelrobin is Special Summoned to my field, I can Special Summon a Level 1 Enigma Eagle from my Deck at the price of making its attack points 0! I summon another Rabbelrobin!" A second baby bird appeared in front of Aren, chirping happily at the other bird. "Since Rabbelrobin's base attack points are 0, I'm not really sacrificing anything now, aren't I?"/

"So you have two of them now. Big deal." scoffed Barrett.

"I'm not done! With the second Rabbelrobin's effect, I summon a third from my Deck!" shouted Aren. A third bird appeared in front of Aren. "And I can do the same thing again and again until my entire field is filled with these feathered friends of mine!" Two more baby birds appeared in front of the War Eagle. All five then began chirping harmoniously, bringing a small sliver of life into the desolate city around them.

"Like I said Aren," said Barrett, "those birdbrains can't hope to...wait...you can't be!"

"I overlay my five Level 1 Rabbelrobins in order to build the Overlay Network!" said Aren, lifting his right arm towards the sky. The five baby birds turned into green streams of light which flew up into the air. On the ground in front of Aren appeared a spiraling yellow of stars, which the five green streams of light flew into. As the fifth entered the Overlay Network, a massive pillar of blue light emerged from the center, and the sounds of thunder could be heard. "Valiant eagle that soars through the sky, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon!" Aren slammed a black-bordered card down onto his duel disk. "Appear, Enigma Eagle - Soarnight Sniper!" The monster that emerged from the blue pillar of light was giant male eagle armored in black war armor. His wings were not comprised of feathers, but hundreds of interconnected metal plates that gave the appearance of wings, with a wingspan that stretched over 12 feet in length. His eyes opened, revealing a pair of startlingly sharp green eyes, and he let out a massive war cry, grabbing a sniper rifle from his artillery belt as five green orbs spiraled around him in a separate elliptical motions. **(ATK: 500, DEF: 500 / RANK 1, OU: 5)**

"I've never seen a Monster like this one!" said Barrett in alarm.

"You can thank my sister for this guy. She loves Rank 1 Xyz Monsters, and she and my older brother gave me him for my 13th birthday. Now, he's got you in his scope's sights!" warned Aren.

"But you had three Level 6 Monsters on your field before!" said Barrett. "But you chose not to Xyz Summon that Rank 6 Xyz Monster you beat me with last time, but a weakling Rank 1 Xyz Monster with only 500 attack points! Why?! Are you mocking me you little brat?!"

Soarnight turned his head back to Aren, something which Barrett could not see. " _Let's show this pride-obsessed cyclops what the War Eagles of Heartland can REALLY do!"_

Aren nodded at his partner, now revealed to be the source of the invisible voice. "Allow me to show you why, Barrett! I activate Soarnight Sniper's effect! He gets an extra 200 attack and defense points at the beginning of every turn for each Overlay Unit that he has!" Soarnight let out an ear-piercing screech as his attack points soared. **(Soarnight Sniper ATK: 500 - 1500, DEF: 500 - 1500)** "Next I activate the Equip Spell Overlay Wings from my hand, and equip it to Soarnight Sniper!" Soarnight's wings changed color from metallic gray to jade green. "With the effect of this Equip Spell, since you have a Special Summoned Monster on your field, he gets an extra 1000 points this turn!" **(Soarnight Sniper ATK: 1500 - 2500)**

"Impressive." acknowledged Barrett begrudgingly. "You brought his attack points up to 2500 from 500. You once again have my respect. However, Jaguar Gladiator still has 4800 attack points! You can't take me down when your Soarnight only has 2500!"

"Who ever said I was going to take down your Monster, Barrett?" whispered Aren, smiling widely, causing the Fusion Duelist's eye to widen. "I activate Soarnight Sniper's second ability! By using one Overlay Unit, at the price of not being able to attack this turn, you take damage equal to half of the combined current attack points of every Special Summoned Monster on our fields!"

"Impossible!" shouted Barrett.

"I'm afraid it is VERY possible, Barrett!" corrected Aren. "Soarnight Sniper currently has 2500 attack points, and your Jaguar Gladiator has 4800! So you'll take 3650 points of damage, ending this duel! Go Frontal Arc Phaser!"

Soarnight Sniper turned his rifle directly at Barrett chest. " _Open wide, Fusion scum!"_ Instead of a bullet, his sniper unleashed a massive linear laser blast that blew directly past Jaguar Gladiator and right at Barrett. The Fusion warrior screamed as he was blasted off of his feet and into a partially still-standing building.

 **BARRETT LP: 3200 - 0**

 **WINNER: AREN**

Jaguar Gladiator disappeared from the field with a snarl, and just as Soarnight Sniper did on Aren's side, he turned back to his duelist partner, and gave a big smirk. Aren returned the gesture, his Monster fading off of the field.

" _That was a close one, wasn't it Aren?"_ asked Soarnight.

"Maybe, but I still won didn't I?" questioned Aren, watching his silver blade vanish. He turned his attention to the building that Barrett had flown into. He watched as the building began to crumble, threatening to bury the eyepatch-wearing Fusion duelist in a mountain of stone. Just before it could however, Barrett weakly pushed a button on his Duel Disk, causing him to dissolve into a shower of blue sparkles, which dissipated just as the building came crashing down.

Aren clicked his tongue in annoyance. "He got away again. That's the third time he's slipped away from me."

" _Don't let it get to you Aren."_ advised Soarnight. " _We should head back to base. Your brother and your friends are probably worried, and I don't think sticking around here is wise with reinforcements possibly heading this way."_

'You're right. Let's go." said Aren. Before he did, however, he removed a Trap Card from his Deck and stared it intensely. ' _Barrett…'_ thought Aren forcefully.

* * *

[Flashback]

 _Aren watched in the shadows as a small squadron of Fusion Duelists, led by Barrett, began heading in his direction. He placed his purple Xyz Duel Disk on his left arm, placing a Trap Card on the silver blade facedown. The Trap materialized in front of him, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Aren was just about to run away when he tripped on a piece of rubble. His face met the ground as he looked in horror to see that his foot had been caught on a steel pipe that had been twisted by the fighting. Even worse, he could hear the squadron of Duel Academy goons approaching. Realizing he had no other choice, he tapped his disk's screen, activating his Trap, known as Widespread Ruin. The second the card glowed, it released a massive explosion that engulfed both Aren and Barrett's squad. Aren screamed as he felt his left arm, left leg, and left eye be peppered by fiery debris. The last thing he remembered was fading into an endless sea of black, and having a feeling like he was sinking._

[End Flashback]

* * *

Aren stared at his prosthetic metal arm and leg, phantom pains flickering every few seconds. Removing his red Resistance headscarf, he touched the mechanical eye that now rested in his left eye socket. That day changed him, but while others thought it was for the worst, Aren saw some light in the dark. He was able to program his prosthetic arm so that it could also function as his Duel Disk, and he was able to see almost perfectly with the eye he programmed to replace his human eye.

"This fighting has scarred us all...some scars you can't see like Allen's at the loss of his sister…" said Allen to no one in particular. "Other scars you can plainly see, me being the best example. But I know that one day soon, this war will be over, and the Xyz Dimension will flourish again." Aren removed a small metal device from his jacket pocket and placed it on his back, which then extended outward until it became a pair of metal wings. Even if he could no longer run due to his metal leg, he could still fly like he did in his childhood whenever he would go paragliding with Shay and Lulu in the summer. He jumped into the air, and let the dirty, windy air carry him 30 feet above the ground back towards base. ' _Professor...whatever your name may be...you will pay for your crimes...we will see to that, or die trying…'_

* * *

 **{Next Chapter:}**

 **Returning to the Resistance's base, Aren discovers that Shay and Yuto are planning on going to the Standard Dimension to capture the Professor's son to use as a bargaining chip. Aren challenges his older brother to a duel to try and convince him and Yuto to allow him and two other members of the Resistance accompany them on their mission.**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **EE - Soarnight Sniper (RANK 1, 500/500, 2 or more LV. 1 EE Monsters)**

 **-This card gains 200 attack points at the beginning of every turn multiplied by the number of Xyz Materials it currently has attached to it. When this card is successfully summoned, your opponent takes damage equal to half of the combined attack points of all Special Summoned Monsters on the field. This card cannot attack the turn you activate this effect. Once per turn, you can detach one Xyz Material, halve any battle damage and prevent the destruction of all EE Monsters you control for that turn.**

 **EE - Craft Hawk (LV. 4, 1200/1200**

 **-If this is the only Monster on your field, you can activate one EE Spell card from your deck, but this card cannot attack if you do so.**

 **EE - Kingpin Passerine (LV. 6, 2300/1500)**

 **-You can Summon this card (from your hand) by destroying one EE card on the field. After you do so, you can Special Summon 2 copies of Kingpin Passerine from your Deck in ATK position, but their ATK and DEF points are halved and they cannot attack that turn. This card can attack twice per turn.**

 **EE - Rabbelrobin (LV. 1 0/0)**

 **-If this card is Special Summoned to your field, you can Special Summon one EE Monster from your Deck to your hand, but its ATK points become 0.**

 **EE Typhoon Talon (Equip Spell)**

 **-Equip only to an EE Monster you control: the only Monster that can declare an attack while this card is on the field is the equipped Monster. If the equipped Monster inflicts at least 800 damage to your opponent during your turn, you can target one Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls: destroy it.**

 **Overlay Wings (Equip Spell)**

 **-Equip only to a WIND-Attribute Xyz Monster. At the beginning of each turn, if there is a Special Summoned Monster on your opponent's field, increase the equipped Monster's ATK points by 1000.**

 **LL- Bird Perch (Normal Spell; gift from Lulu)**

 **-Special Summon 1 Level 1 Winged Beast-type Monster from your Deck to your field.**

 **Beastborg - Jaguar Gladiator (LV. 8, 2800/2500, 2 or more Beastborg Fusion Monsters)**

 **-When this is successfully Fusion Summoned, it gains 1000 ATK points for each Beastborg Fusion Monster used as Fusion Material. Only one the turn that it Fusion Summoned, it can destroy 1 Monster your opponent controls. At the end of your opponent's next turn following this card's Fusion Summon, inflict 200 points of damage multiplied by the total Levels of the Beastborg Fusion Monsters in your Graveyard. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon all of its Fusion Material Monsters, should all of them still be in your Graveyard.**

 **Beastborg Unity (Quick-Play Spell)**

 **-You can Fusion Summon 1 Beastborg Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using 2 or more Beastborg Fusion Monsters on your Field as Material. Your opponent takes no more damage during the turn that this card is activated.**


	2. The Ones Who Fight

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

As Aren flew over the desolation that was Heartland, he closed his eyes as he remembered what the city used to be like. He remembered as a city overflowing with positivity, night-time lights, and above all else smiles.

Aren would walk through Heartland Park with Shay, Yuto, Alex, Sarah, Kite, Lulu, Rio, Shark, and the Arclight brothers. He remembered spying on Yuto and Lulu with Shay and the look on Yuto's face when he noticed us walking by just as his face was nearing Lulu's. He remembered witnessing Alex and Sarah performing their first Rank-Up Xyz Evolution Summons during the Heartland Duel Championships, and watching Quattro take down one Pro Duelist after another on the World Duel Circuit. He remembered his first ever duel against Quinton and Kite while being partnered with Trey, and he remembered laughing when Rio announced over the school's loudspeakers about her brother's strange fear of onions, much to his displeasure and embarrassment.

Those fun times no longer existed for the eleven of them. When Duel Academy invaded Heartland, they watched many of the friends that they had grown up with sealed inside of cards, their horrified faces eternally scarring anyone who witnessed the horrid sight.

" _I know I should probably tell you to not dwell on the past, but I know better."_ admitted Soarnight Sniper from within his deck.

"Yeah." agreed Aren. "After what we've all been through, it would difficult to not dwell on the past." Aren's wings folded in on themselves as he skidded to a halt in front of a partially ruined building. The Resistance had been fortunate they were able to take refuge in the warehouse of the old Diamond Branch building. While the school itself had been reduced to ash, the warehouse had only taken minor damage, and was an ideal spot for the freedom fighters due to its vantage point in respect to the rest of the city. As Aren ducked through the destroyed front door and down a flight of stairs, he was greeted with the sight of his fellow Resistance members spread throughout the room.

"Welcome back Aren." said a Duelist with spiky white hair and a single green strand of hair. He was one of Aren's childhood friends, Kyoji Yagumo. Kyoji was famous as an interrogator in the Resistance when it came to wheedling information out of captured Duel Academy Duelists. While he never harmed any of them, he had an unusual connection with spiders, and he couldn't blame any of the Slifer Reds they captured when they began singing like canaries at the sight of his foot-tall tarantula. It came to no one as a surprise that Kyoji used a Spider Deck. "Anything happen while you were on patrol?

"I ran into Barrett again." said Aren nonchalantly. "The fact that I'm talking to you now tells you how our 3rd duel ended." Kyoji chuckled softly, before turning to a tiny spider that was resting in his palm.

" _I've said it before and I'll say it again. That kid creeps me out."_ said Soarnight shakily. Aren didn't reply, but smiled in amusement of his spirit partner's shaky nerves. As he continued on, he passed a couple of girls from the Heart Branch, one of them being his old girlfriend Luna. Luna, while not a common front-line duelist for the Resistance, was a vicious, yet elegant duelist. Duel Academy goons tended to be distracted by her pink hair and natural beauty before she OTK'd them with her Moon Rabbit Legend Deck. Once the war began, the two of them ended their relationship in order to focus on the safety of the entire Resistance.

Aren was the number one technician for the Resistance. Not only did he build his own prosthetics to replace his amputated leg, arm, and eye, but he managed to clone Duel Academy's Human Sealing Technology for the Resistance to use, and had incorporated it into most of the Resistance's Duel Disks. Furthermore, he had also created several cards for the Resistance, his greatest creation being two copies of a Spell Card he dubbed "Cross Xyz," one of which he gave to his brother to use only when they found their sister.

Aren nodded at Luna, who gave a small blush, but turned back to the other she was helping bandage a rather nasty looking cut. Aren ducked underneath of a blue curtain embroidered with the logo of Heartland City and into the Resistance's meeting room. As he walked in, he was greeted by Rio and Reginald "Shark" Kastle. Rio had dark pink eyes and pale skin, along with dark blue hair that had light blue bangs. She also wore a ring on her right little finger, along with an arctic blue jacket overtop of a light pink shirt, black stockings, cyan jeans, and black combat boots. She had her red Resistance-member marker in the form of a red hair tie, which contrasted beautifully with her hair. Like his sister, Shark also had pale skin, but had dark purple hair that resembled octopus tentacles. He also wore a ring on his right little finger, along with a grey, shark tooth-shaped locket, a dark purple jacket over a maroon shirt, and dark blue pants with white, green-gem encrusted shoes. He had his red Resistance marker in the form of an arm sash on his right forearm.

The two were the Resistance's most powerful Tag Duelists. When the Clover and Spade Branches were almost wiped out by the Duel Academy Tag Duelists Gloria and Grace Tyler, Shark and Rio showed their might, driving the Amazoness Duelists back to the Fusion Dimension. Also in the room were Trey and Quattro Arclight. Trey had orange hair and green eyes, wore formal scarlet medieval-style attire embroidered with gold, and had his Resistance identifier in the form of a red ascot. Like his younger brother, Quattro also wore formal medieval-style attire, but his was white with gold, which strikingly matched his golden bangs and magenta hair. Like Trey, he also had a red ascot, signifying his membership of the Resistance.

When the fighting first broke out, the two of them each took down over a dozen Chaos Ancient Gear Giants with their Chronomaly and Gimmick Puppet Decks. Their older brother Quinton wasn't in the room, but he was known for personally defeating the Duel Academy General Zane Truesdale in a duel that lasted for nearly a day with his Space Deck.

The last person Aren saw was, to Soarnight's displeasure, Kite Tenjo, affectionately referred to his partner as Mr. Cipher. He had light blue-grey eyes, pale skin and blonde hair that curled up in a point, with a dark green spiked front and bangs. He wore a black trench coat with a high collar over a grey shirt and white pants with black boots. He also wore a belt with two purple Deck boxes, in addition to a red Resistance scarf wrapped around his right hand, which to no one but Aren knew in reality hid a scar from when Aren had accidentally bitten him 2 months prior.

Kite held the record among the duelists in the Resistance for the most Duel Academy Duelists defeated since the onset of the war, with over 800 Fusion freaks utterly annihilated by his Cipher Deck. That record came as no surprise to anyone, especially Aren, whom Kite had been his mentor when he first began dueling. He remembered Kite defeating him in three rounds with his Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, whose anti-Xyz effect made his Enigma Eagles virtually powerless.

Next to Shay and Yuto, Kite was also the one that Soarnight was the most concerned about. The reason was because of Kite's other ace monster, Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon. Ever since the war began, Kite had begun using Cipher Dragon more than Photon Dragon, and Soarnight had worried that Cipher's anger towards Duel Academy was affecting Kite's mentality. Kite had become even stronger than he ever was, which was good for the Resistance, but Soarnight had noticed Kite becoming more agitated when it came to protecting his father and brother, whom had both survived the initial wave from Duel Academy's assault. While Aren wasn't inclined to believe Soarnight's claims, he still worried for Kite nonetheless.

"Aren!" exclaimed Rio, getting up and hugging the War Eagle. Aren's eyes widened as he saw Shark's eyes narrow. He knew that the Kastle brother could get very protective of his sister, so he ended the hug with Rio and smiled. "We were getting worried when you didn't check in! We thought Duel Academy might have carded you!"

"I did run into Barrett, but you all should know by now that until I save Lulu from those Fusion freaks, I won't lose to anyone." replied Aren. "Though I do appreciate that you were worried for me." Aren then recounted the events of his duel with the others.

"Were you truly trying in that duel? You let yourself take all that damage even when you had two face downs on your field?" questioned Quattro.

"I'm letting Barrett think that he nearly got the best of me, when in reality I had that match totally under control." said Aren smoothly.

" _Llllllliiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr…"_ mocked Soarnight. Aren retaliated by poking his card, causing him to screech in surprise and fade away.

"Barrett doesn't rest when it comes to you, does he?" questioned Shark, adjusting his Resistance arm sash.

"No he does not." commented Trey from the other side of the table.

"Can you blame him?" questioned Quattro. "Aren did mess up his face with the Trap card of his."

"But Aren also got badly hurt because of it." chastised Rio, redoing the red Resistance hair tie in her indigo and cerulean hair. "I've never seen Lulu so upset at anyone, not even when she caught you and Shay spying on her and Yuto by the pier last year."

"I gained a whole new respect for her when she chewed you out for nearly blowing yourself up." admitted Trey.

"Well I won, and that is all that matters." said Aren, sitting down. He undid a small latch on his prosthetic leg, removing it from his body and placing it on the table. He then pulled out a screwdriver from his pants pocket and began fiddling with a few of the gears of the metal limb.

"Recalibrating again?" questioned Kite, inspecting Aren's actions.

"It gave out on me again while I was out there on patrol and I had to fly to get back here." explained Aren, removing a gear and wiping it with his jacket. "I have to keep this thing in prime condition, or else I won't be able to be of use to you guys. At least my mechanical eye doesn't give me any trouble."

" _That's not what you said when you ran into that brick wall last week in the city square.'_ teased Soarnight, his spirit appearing next to Aren, but only to the War Eagle's eyes. Aren waved the screwdriver through his partner's apparition, causing it dissipate, but not before he heard Soarnight screech in amusement.

"So where's Quinton?" asked Aren, returning the gear to its slot in his mechanical leg. "I thought he would be here chewing me out for breaking protocol."

"He went looking for Shay and Yuto." explained Quattro, who was now reorganizing his Gimmick Puppet Deck. He picked up one of his Xyz Monsters, Gimmick Puppet Andromeda and studied it. "Apparently the two of them snuck off again about an hour ago. So he, Sarah, and Alex went looking for them."

"That Shay just pushes my buttons sometimes." growled Shark. "He's going to get himself or Yuto killed with how he's been acting lately."

"Try being related to him." said Aren bluntly, reattaching his prosthetic leg, watching its energy trails glow blue, signifying it had finished its calibration. "I want Lulu back just as badly as he does, but at least I know when to exercise common sense."

Suddenly, Quinton burst in, panting heavily as if he just ran a marathon. Quinton wore long, dark formal medieval-style attire, in contrast to his two younger brothers' brighter colors. He had blue eyes and long, flowing silver hair with light purple fringes and one light green strand right in the middle. Like his brothers, he also had a red Resistance ascot.

"Everyone…" said Quinton, gasping for breath. Aren and the other five all stood up in alarm.

"Quinton, what happened? Where are Shay and Yuto?" asked Rio with concern.

"They're...they're…" panted Quinton.

"Spit it out man!" shouted Quattro, shaking his older brother's shoulders.

"They're...going to cross dimensions!"

* * *

Shay held up the Fusion Dimension Duel Disk, having just finished carding its Fusion Dimension Duelist owner. Shay was a tall young man with straight blueish-black hair that fell down to his chin, and light green bangs in the shape of a wing partially tucked under some strands on the left. He had yellow-green eyes, a red Resistance scarf wrapped around his neck, and he wore blue trench coat that was tattered at the ends. He also sported grey pants and brown shoes. He turned to a younger person next to him who had just removed a card from his Extra Deck. The younger boy, Yuto, who in addition to his trademark spiked black and purple hair, wore a punk-style outfit, with a dull green formal shirt and dark blue tie, as well as a black cape-like garment with ripped sleeves and edges, plus dark blue pants and black boot-like shoes. The two were about to create the interdimensional portal when they heard footsteps.

"Alex? Sarah?" called out Yuto. "What are you two doing here?" From behind a collapsed building emerged two 13 year old Duelists. Alex was a short boy with red spiky hair and bushy eyebrows. His eyes were teal and the front of his bangs were lined with yellow. He wore a maroon long-sleeved shirt, grey pants and yellow boots with white tongues and grey soles under a purple poncho emblazoned with a blue shield shape and green diamonds; two on the lower part of the shield and two smaller ones on each shoulder. He also wore a pair of roller-boots with retractable wheels that had two energy tires that appeared when activated. Alex gazed at the two Spade Branch Duelists with a fierce look.

Sarah was a bespectacled young girl with blue eyes and short light-purple and lilac hair that was restrained by light green and orange hair clips that resemble bicycle helmets. She wore a light blue dress with a teal turtleneck under a tan dress, held up with brown shoulder straps and a blue belt that had a golden symbol resembling twin birds back to-back, and green and orange pouches at both hips. She also wore brown tights, white fingerless gloves, white leg warmers with teal cuffs and straps, and light-orange shoes with green soles. Unlike Alex, however, her expression was that of extreme nervousness.

"What are _you_ doing is the better question, Shay." countered Alex, stepping towards his two allies. "We've known you two were planning something, but crossing dimensions?! Isn't that too dangerous?!"

"You don't know what you're talking about Alex!" yelled Shay, pointing at the orange-haired Duelist. "They took my sister! I won't rest until I get her back!"

"That's why we're crossing dimensions, to save her." added Yuto calmly.

"But you're not going to the Fusion Dimension." said a voice above them. The four Resistance Duelists looked up to see Aren, Kite, the Kastle twins, and the Arclight brothers standing above them. The seven remaining members of the Resistance leadership hopped down to the eldest Obsidian sibling's level, with Aren walking towards his older brother with an incredulous look on his face. "You're going to the Standard Dimension...aren't you?" When Shay didn't respond, Aren knew he had hit the nail on the head. "You're going after that Professor guy's son...aren't you?"

"...We are." muttered Yuto sheepishly.

"And you honestly thought that the two of you could slip away without letting anyone else know?" asked Rio incredulously.

"We've known that you two were planning something, but we just didn't know what." added Quattro.

"But when Quinton told us you were planning to cross dimensions, I pieced it all together." finished Aren. "You told me last week that about your interrogation of that Slifer Red in the old post office, and how he told you that this Professor guy has a son named Declan in the Standard Dimension. You're going to capture him to use as a bargaining chip to get Lulu back...tell me, am I right?"

"You are, and you're not stopping us, Aren." said Shay shortly. "If we gets ahold of this Declan, then his father will have no choice but to free Lulu."

"Well you two aren't going alone." said Kite. Everyone turned to the Cipher Duelist. "This isn't something that just two duelists can do by themselves. It's a tactical infiltration of a completely unknown dimension. Two people alone can't do it by themselves."

"That's why you're going to take three of us with you, Shay." said Aren, taking a step forward. "If the Standard Dimension is aligned with Fusion, you won't last two days there. If more of us go, we'll be able to make more progress in a shorter amount of time."

"But if more of us go, the more attention we'll attract." countered Yuto. "That's why it can only be me and Shay to go."

"This is not up for debate you two." said Aren. "You two aren't going alone."

"And why should we listen to you, little brother?" challenged Shay, his tone rising.

"Because this." said Aren curtly. He held out his left arm, his silver Duel Disk blade appearing from his jacket-covered metal arm.

"Aren...what are you doing?" asked Quattro.

"What does it look like he's doing brother?" commented Trey.

"...You've never beaten me before Aren...why should I accept this challenge?" asked Shay.

"Because someone needs to screw your head back on." said Aren angrily. "Ever since Lulu was taken you've been acting recklessly. Even Shark has said it, and he's Mister Punch-First-Ask-Questions-Next!"

Shark was about to make a retort to the War Eagle's statement, when Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head as if to warn him to not make an outburst.

"Your actions are going to get yourself or someone innocent hurt brother." said Aren. "I'm not letting you create that portal unless you duel me!"

Shay studied his younger brother's determined expression for nearly a minute, before he pulled out his purple Xyz Dimension Duel Disk, and activated its blue angular blade. "I'll entertain your request little bro. But when I beat you, the rest of you will leave and forget all about this."

"And I when win, I'll finally make you see reason!" retorted Aren, moving into a battle stance.

" **Let's Duel!"** shouted both brothers, drawing their first five cards.

"I'll get things going Shay!" shouted Aren, selecting a card from his hand. "Since there are no Monsters on my field, I can Special Summon Enigma Eagle - Shadow Lanius from my hand!" A bipedal black-winged eagle/lanius hybrid holding a small boot knife in its claws appeared in front of the War Eagle. **(ATK: 1800, DEF: 1500 / LV. 5)** "Next I'll summon forth Enigma Eagle - Bullet Blader in Defense Mode!" Another bipedal eagle - surrounded by a blue aura - appeared in front of Aren, wielding a blade in the shape of a gun. ( **ATK: 1600, DEF: 1200 / LV. 4)** "I then place two cards facedown, and end my turn!" Two cards materialized in front of the War Eagle, before disappearing after a short moment.

"I know your deck inside and out, Aren!" called out Shay. "I helped you build parts of it, I helped you create every move you use now with that deck, and now I'm going to take you down! I draw!" Shay drew his card, giving a slight smile, which Aren caught sight of.

" _You know that look, right Aren?"_ questioned Soarnight.

' _You bet I do.'_ thought back Aren. ' _That's the look he gets right before he's about to perform his famous triple OTK against the Obelisk Force goons.'_

"I summon Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius!" said Shay, placing a card on his blue disk blade. In front of the eldest Obsidian sibling appeared a mechanical green bird with silver pipe-like wings. **(ATK: 1300, DEF: 1600 / LV. 4)** "With his special ability, I can summon another Vanishing Lanius from my hand!" An identical bird appeared next to the first one, giving Shay two Monsters on his field. "And now I'll Normal Summon Raidraptor - Skull Eagle!" A white and purple mechanical bird appeared in between the two Lanius. **(ATK: 1000, DEF: 500 / LV. 3)**

"Swarming the field with Monsters is the trademark of the Obsidian siblings." commented Quinton. "Both of them are doing an excellent job of living up to that reputation so far."

"Vanishing Lanius number one, attack Bullet Blader!" ordered Shay. The Lanius on Shay's left flew over and struck the Enigma Eagle with its beak, causing the Monster to dissolve into a shower of yellow sparkles, but since it was in Defense Mode, Aren took no damage.

"Damaging him wasn't Shay's goal, was it?" asked Trey.

"Right. I get the feeling that dealing damage wasn't his goal at all." replied Alex.

"I activate the Spell Card Raidraptor - Symbol!" said Shay, a green card depicting the trademark red symbol of the Raidraptors glowing purple against an orange sky appeared in front of Shay. "Since a Raidraptor battled this turn, I can add one Raidraptor from my Deck to my hand. I choose Raidraptor - King's Lanius! Then I'll place two cards facedown and end my turn." Shay took the Monster card and put it in his other hand, while at the same time removing the two remaining cards that were still his hand and placed them on his disk blade, which then materialized on the field in front of him, before disappearing after a couple of seconds.

"I'm up now big bro, so I draw!" said Aren, drawing a card, and then placing it next to the one remaining in his hand. "I summon Enigma Eagle - Valkyrie Vulture!" An eagle with a vulture's

Beak appeared in front of Aren, wielding a small metal shield. **(ATK: 1000, DEF: 1000 / LV. 3)** "Now I activate its special ability! By tributing him, I can revive one Enigma Eagle from my Graveyard and increase its Level by one! So say goodbye to Valkyrie Vulture, and hello again to Buller Blader!" ( **LV. 4 - 5)**

"Two Level 5 Monsters…" muttered Rio.

"I activate Shadow Lanius's special ability!" said Aren, pointing at the 1800 attack point Enigma Eagle. "He can halve his attack points to attack you directly!" Shadow Lanius flew over to Shay, and struck him with the flat edge of his knife, causing him to stumble.

 **SHAY LP: 4000 - 3100**

"I activate my Trap, Raidraptor - Flicker!" said Shay, one of his facedowns flipping up. "Since I took battle damage, I can add a Raidraptor from my Deck to my hand whose attack points are 100 higher than the amount of damage I took! I choose Raidraptor - Skull Eagle!"

"I activate Shadow Lanius's other effect!" called out Aren. "Since he dealt you damage this turn, I can use him and Bullet Blader from my field to Xyz Summon during the Battle Phase!"

"A Battle Phase Xyz Summon?!" questioned Quattro.

"Truly impressive." acknowledged Kite.

"I overlay Level 5 Bullet Blader and Shadow Lanius in order to build the Overlay Network!" said Aren. The two eagles turned into green lights and dove into the Overlay Network portal, which released a pillar of blue light. "Eagle with the strength of a thousand hurricanes, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon, Enigma Eagle - Hydrare Saber!" Aren's Xyz Monster was a large bipedal eagle coated in metallic combat attire, with two identical swords that had three circular holes running down the middle of their blades, and had two glowing green orbs orbiting him. **(ATK: 2800, DEF: 2500 / RANK 5)**

"That's the Monster he beat me with in the Heartland Championships." commented Alex.

" _Let us fight together, my liege."_ said the sturdy voice of Hydrare Saber in Aren's mind.

" _Always been a bird of chivalry, that brother of mine."_ snorted Soarnight in apparent mockery.

"I activate Hydrare Saber's special ability!" said Aren. "By using one Overlay Unit, he can slam you with 300 points of damage for every card on your field and decrease your monster's attack points by 500 each! But since I used Shadow Lanius' effect to Xyz Summon, his Overlay Unit Monsters are banished when they are used instead of going to the Graveyard! " Hydrare Saber slashed one his green overlay units with his left sword, and then slashed the ground beneath him with his other sword. Cracks appeared in the ground beneath Shay and from them emerged an intense green light, which struck Shay repeatedly.

 **(Hydrare Saber OU: 2 - 1)**

 **(Vanishing Lanius #1 and 2 ATK: 1300 - 800; Skull Eagle ATK: 1000 - 500)**

 **SHAY LP: 3200 - 2300**

"I place one card facedown and end my turn." said Aren, a single card materializing in front of the War Eagle that then vanished. "Now do you see what you mean about you not having your head on straight, Shay? The fewest life points I've ever reduced you to in all of our past duels is 2400, and I just brought you down to 2300 in two turns. If you were thinking straightly Shay, you would've been able to beat me in that first turn of yours like you've done to me so many times in the past, but now you're making sloppy plays and have lost almost half of your life points."

"You think you have the upper hand simply because you damaged my life points so much?" questioned Shay, his eyes covered by his hair. "Well you couldn't be any more wrong. I have you right where I want you, and I'll prove it to you here and now! It's my turn now!" The Raidraptor user drew a card from his deck, adding it to the two cards in his hand that Aren knew to be King's Lanius and Skull Eagle.

" _Prove it then Shay."_ said Hydrare Saber to Aren, who didn't reply, but simply adjusted his stance.

" _Get ready Aren."_ advised Soarnight. " _If there's one thing we can always count on from Shay, it's that he can make some big plays."_

"I summon Raidraptor - King's Lanius from my hand!" said Shay. Appearing in front of Aren's brother was a decently large maroon mechanical bird. **(ATK: 1300, DEF: 2000 / LV. 4)** "King's Lanius lets me Special Summon one Level 4 or below Raidraptor from my hand to my field! So I'll call out my second Raidraptor - Skull Eagle!" An identical white and purple bird appeared to the one currently on Shay's field. **(ATK: 1000, DEF: 500 / LV. 3)**

" _He has two level 3 monsters and three level 4 monsters now!"_ cried out Soarnight in alarm.

"I know what's coming next!" realized Shark.

"Heads up Aren!" advised Kite.

"I overlay my two Skull Eagles in order to build the Overlay Network!" roared Shay. His two white and purple Raidraptors transformed into purple streams of light before diving into the Overlay Network portal, which released a blue pillar of light. "Fiendish falcon, emerge from the shadows to fight our foes! I Xyz Summon Raidraptor - Fiend Eagle!" From the blue light appeared a black mechanical bird with translucent red wings surrounded by two orbiting purple Overlay Units. **(ATK: 1000, DEF: 0 / RANK 3)** "I'm not done though! I overlay my two level 4 Vanishing Lanius and my level 4 King's Lanius to build the Overlay Network once again!" The three birds also transformed into purple streams of light, which dove into the Overlay Network portal, which once again released a pillar of blue light. ""From the shadows, this falcon soars on wings of courage, talons ready for the rebellion! I Xyz Summon! Witness the ascent of Raidraptor - Rise Falcon!" Shay's second Xyz Monster was a larger teal and blue mechanical bird with golden spheres that connected its wings to its body, which was frontlined by its head, which sported six red sensors on its forehead and pitch-black eyes, along with being surrounded by three orbiting purple Overlay Units. **(ATK: 100, DEF: 2000 / RANK 4)**

"Things just got really bad for Aren." said Trey.

"That's an understatement." commented Quattro.

"I activate Skull Eagle's special ability!" said Shay. "Fiend Eagle gains 300 attack points because I used it to Xyz Summon! So since I used two of them, Fiend Eagle gains 600 attack points!" **(Fiend Eagle ATK: 1000 - 1600)** "Now I'll activate Fiend Eagle's special ability! By using an Overlay Unit, I can slam you with damage equal to the attack points of one Special Summoned Monster on your field!" **(Fiend Eagle OU: 2 - 1)** "And since Hydrare Saber is not only a Special Summoned Monster, but the ONLY Monster on your field, the choice is simple! Take this! 2800 points of damage!" Fiend Eagle released a whitish-purple blast of light from its wings, heading straight for Aren.

"I activate the Counter Trap, Enigma Eagle - Whirlwing!" said Aren, one of his two face downs flipping upward. "Since you activated an effect that deals me damage while I have an Enigma Eagle Monster on my field, that damage is negated! So my life points remain protected and untouched!" A cyclone formed around Aren, which deflected Fiend Eagle's energy wave.

"Then I activate Rise Falcon's special ability!" continued Shay. "By using one Overlay Unit, it gains the attack points of every Special Summoned Monster on your field!" One of Rise Falcon's Overlay Units disappeared as it become surrounded in a fiery aura. **(Rise Falcon ATK: 100 - 2900, OU: 3 - 2)**

"Great...just what I needed." said Aren dryly.

"I'm not done!" said Shay, shocking everyone. "By banishing Raidraptor - Flicker from my graveyard, Rise Falcon also gains the attack points of Fiend Eagle! Furthermore, any battle damage you take during this turn will be doubled!" Rise Falcon's fiery aura grew even more fearsome as its attack points increased once again. **(Rise Falcon ATK: 2900 - 4500)**

"Aren, look out!" cried Sarah, speaking for the first time.

' _You don't need to tell me twice.'_ thought Aren, sweating nervously.

"And now! Raidraptor - Rise Falcon will annihilate Hydrare Saber!" shouted Shay intensely. "Ravaging Rebellion!" Rise Falcon flew high into the sky before descending with the speed of a falling missile. Hydrare Saber screeched as he was blown apart by Shay's Monster.

Aren struggle to maintain his footing as his Monster was destroyed by the Raidraptor.

"Don't forget that the damage you take this turn is doubled due to Flicker's effect!" shouted Shay. Aren was blown off his feet and hit the ground hard, groaning in pain.

 **AREN LP: 4000 - 600**

"Fiend Eagle, end this duel!" called out Shay. "Nefarious Nosedive!" Fiend Eagle positioned itself high in the sky directly above Aren, who was struggling to his feet.

"AREN!" shouted the eight onlookers as one, while Yuto's eyes widened quite a bit.

' _I'm not out yet Shay…'_ thought Aren, staring at his remaining face down. ' _And that card is the key to snapping Shay out of his funk…'_

* * *

 **{Next Chapter:}**

 **The battle between the Obsidian siblings continues with being Aren backed into a corner by Shay's Rise Falcon. When it seems that Aren has no options left, he envisions a new monster taking flight onto the field, and with his draw he calls forth a new hope for Heartland.**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **EE - Hydrare Saber [RANK 5, 2800/2400, 2 LV. 5 Monsters]**

 **\- If this card has an EE Xyz Monster as Xyz Material, it gains these effects: this card cannot be targeted by your opponent's Trap Cards, and this card gains 1000 attack points when it battles. Once per turn, you can detach one Xyz Material: inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each card on their field, and lower each of their Monster's ATK points by 500.**

 **EE - Bullet Blader [LV. 4, 1600/1200]**

 **-This card can inflict piercing damage. If this card is used as Xyz Material for a WIND-attribute Xyz Monster it gains this effect: it can deal piercing damage against a DEF position Monster.**

 **EE - Shadow Lanius [LV. 5, 1800/1400]**

 **-If you have no Monsters on your field, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can halve this card's ATK points; if you do so, this card can attack your opponent directly. If this card inflicts damage to your opponent, you can Special Summon an EE Xyz Monster during the Battle Phase, but they are banished when they detached by that Xyz Monster, or if the Xyz Monster is destroyed.**

 **EE - Valkyrie Vulture [LV. 3, 1000/1000]**

 **-You can tribute this card, Special Summon one EE Monster from your Graveyard to your field, then increase it's level by one.**

 **EE - Whirlwing (Counter Trap)**

 **-When your opponent activates a card or effect that would inflict damage while you control a EE monster: reduce that damage to 0.**

 **Raidraptor - Flicker (Normal Trap)**

 **-When you take battle damage,you can add one Raidraptor from your Deck to your hand whose ATK points are 100 greater than the amount of damage you took. You can banish this card from your Graveyard, target one Raidraptor you control: it gains ATK points equal to the ATK points of one other Raidraptor on your field, and any damage that the Monster inflicts during battle that turn is doubled.**


	3. Unflinching Resolve

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **[Previously]**

" _And now! Raidraptor - Rise Falcon will annihilate Hydrare Saber!" shouted Shay intensely. "Ravaging Rebellion!" Rise Falcon flew high into the sky before descending with the speed of a falling missile. Hydrare Saber screeched as he was blown apart by Shay's Monster._

 _Aren struggle to maintain his footing as his Monster was destroyed by the Raidraptor._

" _Don't forget that the damage you take this turn is doubled due to Flicker's effect!" shouted Shay. Aren was blown off his feet and hit the ground hard, groaning in pain._

 _ **AREN LP: 4000 - 600**_

" _Fiend Eagle, end this duel!" called out Shay. "Nefarious Nosedive!" Fiend Eagle positioned itself high in the sky directly above Aren, who was struggling to his feet._

" _AREN!" shouted the eight onlookers as one, while Yuto's eyes widened quite a bit._

' _I'm not out yet Shay…' thought Aren, staring at his remaining face down. 'And that card is the key to snapping Shay out of his funk…'_

* * *

 **[And Now…]**

"I activate my Trap, Enigma Eagle - Sideshot!" said Aren, still on his back. His last face down flipped up, revealing a Monster being struck in the side by a gust of wind. "Because you declared a direct attack on me, this Trap can weaken your Fiend Eagle's attack points by 300 for every 300 point increment between your life points and mine during this attack!" A blast of emerald light emerged from the Trap card, showering Fiend Eagle but not slowing it. "The difference in our life points is 1700, so Fiend Eagle loses 1500 attack points!" **(Fiend Eagle ATK: 1600 - 100)**

"You may have weakened Fiend Eagle, but his attack still goes through to hit you directly!" said Shay. Fiend Eagle dove directly into Aren, causing a plume of dust to kick up.

The nine spectators were forced to cover their faces from the debris mixed in with the dirt. As it settled, Trey gasped at the sight in front of him.

Aren was standing, but very weakly. His legs were wobbling, and a trickle of blood was running down the side of his face. A groan could be heard from the War Eagle of Heartland as he stood up fully.

 **AREN LP: 600 - 500**

"So you managed to hold on, huh?" said the eldest Obsidian softly. "Well you won't be for long. I end my turn. It's your move now Aren, that is if you even _can_ move, because from the looks of it you might just pass out before drawing your next card." As he said this, Fiend Eagle's attack points returned to the regular amount. **(Fiend Eagle ATK: 100 - 1600)**

' _He might be right…'_ thought Aren dazedly to himself, his vision alternating between blurry and normal.

"He only has 500 life points left." said Quattro. "He doesn't have any cards in his hand either. He's in a really bad position here."

"And with Rise Falcon and Fiend Eagle on Shay's field, Aren needs to top draw a game changer right now or it's over." added Alex.

As Aren reached for his card, pain racked his body and he felt himself falling.

"Aren, no!" cried out Rio in worry, preparing to run over, only to be stopped by her brother. When she turned to him with a questioning, yet worried look, he simply shook his head, mirroring the action Sarah took with only moments prior.

Time seemed to slow for Aren as he fell. He could plainly he see the worried looks on the faces of Rio, Trey, Alex and Sarah, along with the blank expressions of Kite, Quattro, Quinton and Shark.

' _Is there really nothing I can do to stop my brother?'_ thought Aren, his internal voice quivering with emotion. ' _Is this really the most I can do as I am right now?'_

" _Are you really going to give up, Aren?"_ said a voice in Aren's mind. His eyes widened in the midst of his fall to see the spirit of Soarnight floating next to him with a look of incredulity on his face. " _In all the years that I have been your partner, I have never once heard you doubt your ability to reach the hearts of others."_ Soarnight shook his feathered head with a look of...pity? " _Do you remember when I first met you on the Duel field?"_

* * *

 **[Flashback]**

A 14 year old Aren flew back into the wall of the Clover Branch Duel field, his back screaming in protest to the involuntary action. Aren slumped against the floor, his face grimacing in pain.

 **AREN LP: 1450 - 250**

Across the field, an 18 year old Quinton wearing casual white and blue attire stared at the middle Obsidian child, the look of intense determination on his face clashing with the braided ponytail flipped over his left shoulder. Next to him floated his Ace Monster, the Xyz Monster known as Space Blaster Fortress. **(ATK: 3100, DEF: 3400 / RANK 9, OU: 0)**

 **QUINTON LP: 3700; HAND: 0**

" **And Space Blaster Fortress takes out the last Monster on Aren's field, leaving the Spade Branch Duelist with only 250 life points left? Does he have it in him to make a comeback here in the Heartland Duel Championship's 4th round?"** announced a commentator into a microphone.

"Come on Aren, you can do it!" called a 12 year old Lulu from the viewing balcony, her yellow dress glinting in the sunlight.

"It's time for a comeback!" added a 12 year old Yuto, his black and purple hair waving with the motion of his head. Next to him, a 16 year old Shay simply looked onward with a blank look.

"You've got this Quinton!" shouted a 16 year old Quattro, his face shining with excitement.

"Go bro!" added a 13 year old Trey.

"I place one card face down and end my turn." said Quinton, a card materializing in front of him. "I expected more of you, Aren. Shay has been telling me about how far you have come as a Duelist since our first duel all those years ago, but maybe he was mistaken. You are nothing more than a timid little boy, whose nickname 'War Eagle' is merely a sham. If you want to be a Pro Duelist someday, you have to show me your resolve!"

"My resolve…" muttered Aren, tears forming in his eyes. He looked at his hand, which contained one Monster card. "But what can I do, when I have nothing left to use?"

" _Are you sure about that, Aren?_ " said a deep voice. Aren's head picked up in shock wildly looking around for the voice. He looked at Quinton, who merely gave the middle Obsidian child a look of confusion. " _You always have something you can use, but it's up to you to recognize it._ "

A flash of light enveloped Aren's vision, blinding him. As the light began to dissipate, Aren gasped as he found himself high in the sky, miles above the surface of the earth.

"Where am I?" asked Aren panickedly. "And how am I floating?"

" _You are in my home, War Eagle."_ said the voice. Aren looked around again for the voice's owner, but still saw nothing.

"Who are you?" cried out Aren. "What do you want with me?"

" _What I want from you is for you to realize your true potential."_ said the voice. Aren gasped as several of the clouds began to join together, forming a distinctly humanoid-avian shape.

"Wait!...You're-!" started Aren.

" _War Eagle...it is a nickname not given to few...and even fewer are truly deserving of it."_ said the voice, emanating from the shaped cloud. " _You have a heart of a true warrior, one with unflinching resolve and unparalleled bravery...you only need to realize it for yourself...so tell me this, Aren…what is your resolve?"_

"My resolve…" said Aren aloud, pondering the true meaning of the question asked to him. "My resolve...is one that will show people that I will never back down, no matter what curveballs life may try to throw at me! I will never embrace fear...I will always stand firm...just like an eagle!"

The cloud glowed brightly in response to Aren's declaration, taking on a more corporeal form...one of a large bipedal eagle adorned in black combat armor with metal plates instead of feathers for wings, a pair of piercing green eyes, and a sniper rifle hung on its side.

" _Your resolve is powerful, Aren…"_ said the eagle telepathically. " _Now...put it into action!"_

Aren's vision returned to the Duel field, his blue irises narrowing, changing color from sky blue to an intense emerald green. "You want to see my resolve, Quinton! Get ready to take it all! I draw!" As Aren drew his card, an image of the eagle from his vision flashed in his mind.

"Then show me what you've got, Aren!" said Quinton.

"From my hand I summon Enigma Eagle - Freedom Sparrow!" said Aren, placing the newly drawn card on his silver Duel Disk blade. In front of the Obsidian sibling appeared a tiny eaglet/sparrow hybrid, it's tiny body not matching at all with its massive wings. **(ATK: 100, DEF: 400 / LV. 1)**

"That's it?" said Quinton incredulously. "You can't be serious!"

"Deadly serious." retorted Aren, smiling bravely. "My little bird is going to win this duel for me, because when I use him to Xyz Summon, he counts as two monsters!" Freedom Sparrow split into two identical copies, with the one on Aren's left being transparent. "Now with this Monster I build the Overlay Network, and Xyz Summon!" The two Enigma Eagles transformed into green streams of energy, which flew into the starry spiraling portal, which released a blue burst of light. ""Valiant eagle that soars through the sky, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon, the mighty Enigma Eagle - Soarnight Sniper!" The monster that emerged from the blue pillar of light was giant male eagle armored in black war armor. His wings were not comprised of feathers, but hundreds of interconnected metal plates that gave the appearance of wings, with a wingspan that stretched over 12 feet in length. His eyes opened, revealing a pair of startlingly sharp green eyes, and he let out a massive war cry, grabbing a sniper rifle from his artillery belt as five green orbs spiraled around him in a separate elliptical motions. **(ATK: 500, DEF: 500 / RANK 1, OU: 2)**

" **And Aren top decks a miracle!"** said the announcer. " **But can this Rank 1 Xyz Monster match up against Quinton's Space Blaster Fortress?"**

"There's the Monster we gave Aren last year brother!" cheered Lulu excitedly, turning to her brother, whose stoic expression had turned into one of pride.

Soarnight's spirit turned around to face Aren and nodded, the War Eagle nodding back with a smile. "I activate Soarnight Sniper's effect!" called out Aren determinedly. "He gets an extra 200 attack and defense points at the beginning of every turn for each Overlay Unit that he has!" Soarnight let out an ear-piercing screech as his attack points increased. **(Soarnight Sniper ATK: 500 - 900, DEF: 500 - 900)** "What's more, by using one Overlay Unit, and the price of not being able to attack this turn, Soarnight Sniper dishes out damage equal to half of the combined current attack points of every Special Summoned Monster on our fields as direct damage to you!"

"It can do what?!" shouted Quinton in disbelief.

"What an ability!" breathed Trey.

"Soarnight Sniper currently has 900 attack points, and your Space Blaster Fortress has 3100! So you'll take half that total - 2000 points - as damage!" said Aren exuberantly. "How's this for resolve? Go Frontal Arc Phaser!" Instead of a bullet, Soarnight's sniper unleashed a massive linear laser blast that blew directly past Quinton's Monster and directly at the eldest Arclight brother.

"I think not!" said Quinton. "I activate the Trap, Elastic Space!" Quinton's Trap Card flipped up, depicting a picture of a yellow energy blast being deflected by a glowing purple portion of a galaxy. "When I would take damage from an opponent's card effect, you take that damage instead, then any effect damage you take for the rest of this turn becomes 0!" Frontal Arc Phaser rebounded off of Quinton's Trap and directly back at the War Eagle.

"Not so fast!" retaliated Aren. "I banish Enigma Eagle - Half Buster to activate its effect!" A green Equip Spell dissolved inside of Aren's Graveyard. "Until the end of this turn's Damage Step, all Spell and Trap Cards your control have their effects negated, and you cannot activate Spell and Trap Cards for the rest of the turn! That means Elastic Space's effect is negated, and my damage goes through!" The redirected blast redirected back at Quinton, striking the Arclight brother right in the stomach.

 **QUINTON LP: 3700 - 1700**

"Nice move Aren." said Quinton, wiping a drop of sweat off his forehead. "But you can't attack due to your monster's effect! And on my next turn-!"

"There won't be a next turn!" interrupted Aren, shocking Quinton. "I banish the Continuous Spell Enigma Eagle - Skydrop from my Graveyard to activate its effect, forcing your satellite-wannabe to attack my Monster!"

"Why do that? You're 900 attack point Monster has no chance against my 3100 attack point Monster?" questioned Quinton.

"Because since your Monster has more than 3000 attack points, Soarnight Sniper gets to steal 2000 of them during this battle!" explained Aren gleefully. Soarnight glowed as a yellow light flew from Space Blaster Fortress into him, giving him even more strength. **(Soarnight ATK: 900 - 2900; Space Blaster Fortress ATK: 3100 - 1100)**

"This can't be!" cried out Quinton in alar, his Monster floating over towards Aren's Enigma Eagle

"But it is! End this Soarnight!" shouted Aren, punching the air in front of him. "Enigma Elimination!" Soarnight fired a single bullet from his sniper rifle, which passed right through Quinton's Machine-type Monster without making a sound, causing it to dissolve into a million yellow sparkles.

 **QUINTON LP: 1700 - 0**

 **WINNER: AREN**

 **[End Flashback]**

* * *

Just before Aren hit the ground, Soarnight's spirit caught him and placed him back on his feet. Aren felt a new surge of energy surge within his veins as his eyes glowed an even fiercer shade of green. As for Shay, he stood in shock, for he could've just seen Soarnight Sniper's spirit put Aren back on his feet and give him a fierce look before vanishing.

"What...what was that…" muttered Shay in shock.

' _Thanks for that buddy.'_ thought Aren. ' _I needed a reminder. Now...let's win this!'_ As he said that, an image of a new Monster flashed in his mind. ' _I'll unleash you right now!'_

"I draw!" shouted Aren, leaving a trail of green light as his card emerged from his deck. Aren looked at the card, a small smile appearing on his face. ' _Time to get my brother back!'_

"What did Aren just draw?" said Rio.

' _Did he do it again?'_ thought Yuto, his eyes widening. ' _Did Aren top-deck draw a miracle?'_

"This is my resolve, Shay!" yelled Aren. "My resolve to snap you out of your reckless ways! I activate the Spell Card Rank-Up-Magic Enigma Eagle's Final Ascendant!" A Spell Card depicting a glowing bird rising from a canyon appeared in front of Aren.

"A Rank-Up-Magic card?! When did you get that?!" shouted Shay in disbelief.

"Some things defy explanation, but I will explain what this card does!" said Aren stoically. "By paying half of my life points, I can revive Hydrare Saber from my Graveyard!"

 **AREN LP: 500 - 250**

From a black portal emerged Aren's Xyz Monster, holding his sword in his hands. **(ATK: 2800, DEF: 2500 / RANK 5)**

"Now Hydrare Saber ranks up to become an Enigma Eagle double its rank!" continued Aren, his Monster turning into a green stream of light that flew back into the Overlay Network portal, which released a shining blue pillar of light.

"Double?!" shouted the other ten as one.

"That would mean he's calling out-" started Shark.

"A Rank 10 Xyz Monster." finished Rio.

"Falcon of unseen might and unparalleled bravery, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! Go Rank Up Xyz Evolution! I summon forth Enigma Eagle - Twilight Falknir!" roared Aren, slamming a card on his silver blade. From the light emerged an eagle much larger than Hydrare Saber, clad in jet black armor adorned with glowing green emeralds. In his hand he held a massive broadsword that was the color of a ruddy sunset surrounded by a green aura, an uncut emerald resting in its pommel. **(ATK: 4000, DEF: 3000 / RANK 10, OU: 1)**

"What...is that monster?" questioned Shay, eyeing it with awe. "You never had that card in your deck before either! How did you perform such a perfect maneuver?"

"Because by believing in my cards, and trusting in not only my deck but in my heart as well, I am sure to draw the card I need to demonstrate my resolve." said Aren passionately, impressing the duel's onlookers.

"That was powerful." admitted Kite, a small smile forming on his face.

' _Let us end this, War Eagle.'_ said the righteous voice of Twilight Falknir in Aren's mind, the War Eagle Obsidian nodding in response.

"I activate Twilight Falknir's special ability!" called out Aren, his newest monster absorbing his single glowing green orb. "Since I summoned him by using the effect of a Rank Up Magic Spell, he can wipe out every monster on your field! Go Twilight Cross Slash!" Twilight Falknir's sword glowed even brighter, the Enigma Eagle holding it above his head. He then slashed downward, an x-shaped blast emerging from the sunset-colored blade. The blast instantly vaporized Rise Falcon and Fiend Eagle, causing them to explode in a shower of yellow sparks. "Furthermore, by using one Overlay Unit, Twilight Falknir can attack as many times as the number of Monsters it destroyed via its effect! That means he can attack you twice!" **(Twilight Falknir OU: 1 - 0)**

"What an effect...and now Shay is wide open for a direct attack." said Yuto in shock.

"Now attack Shay directly!" ordered Aren, Twilight Falknir flying at the older Obsidian.

"Not so fast! By banishing King's Lanius from my Graveyard, I can activate one Rank-Up-Magic Card from my Deck, but I must banish it once it is used!" said Shay. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic Doom Double Force! This lets me resurrect my destroyed Rise Falcon, and let's me use it to summon a Raidraptor that is double the rank!" Rise Falcon emerged from Shay's Graveyard, transforming into a purple light that flew back into the Overlay Network, which released its blue column of light. "When you've seen as much real combat as I have, you learn one thing: If you wanna stay in the game, you have to keep pushing to the edge! Go, Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! You're clear for take-off, Raidraptor - Satellite Cannon Falcon!" A giant white falcon with a golden body and red wings emerged onto Shay's field, a purple Overlay Unit flying around it. **(ATK: 3000, DEF: 2000 / RANK 8, OU: 1)**

"They both used Rank Up Magic cards that double their Monster's Rank. Now Aren can't finish off Shay this turn." commented Quattro with an impressed look.

"And now I activate its ability! By using one Overlay Unit, Satellite Cannon Falcon weakens your Twilight Falknir by 800 points for every Raidraptor in my Graveyard for this battle!" said Shay, his Rank 8 Raidraptor absorbing its Overlay Unit. "Since there are six Raidraptors roosting in my Graveyard, your Monster loses ALL of its attack points!" Six cannons appeared behind Satellite Cannon Falcon's back, and from them fired six green energy blasts that struck Twilight Falknir. **(Satellite Cannon Falcon OU: 1 - 0, Twilight Falknir ATK: 4000 - 0)**

"Now Shay has the upper hand again!" said Rio.

"And if this attack resolves itself…" said Trey.

"Aren will lose." finished Alex.

"Not so fast, because when Twilight Falknir battles a Special Summoned Monster, all of its attack and defense points drop to zero!" countered Aren. Still flying at Satellite Cannon Falcon, Twilight Falknir slashed the air, which caused Shay's Monster to falter. **(Satellite Cannon Falcon ATK: 3000 - 0, DEF: 2000 - 0)**

"Now they'll both be destroyed!" said Kite, watching the two birds crash into each other, creating a large whirlwind.

"Urgh…" groaned Shay, protecting his face. "But now your field is empty, and on my next turn...huh?!" Shay recoiled at the sight of Twilight Falknir still on Aren's field, looking a little battered, but not destroyed.

"During the turn Twilight Falknir is summoned, he can't be destroyed. And now that Satellite Cannon Falcon's effect has ended, Twilight Falknir's attack points return to normal for the finishing attack!" **(Twilight Falknir ATK: 0 - 4000)** "And now he'll attack you Shay! Go Sky Saber Impact!" Twilight Falknir put his sword directly in front of him and began spinning until a horizontal tornado emerged around him, heading directly for Shay, striking the eldest Obsidian dead on, but not causing him to move.

"You've come so far…" breathed Shay, closing his eyes, the cyclone making him fall on his back.

 **SHAY LP: 2300 - 0**

 **WINNER: AREN**

As Aren's duel disk faded, the War Eagle let himself fall onto the ground, landing in a sitting position. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned over at his friends. They were all looking on at him with expressions of immense pride, which brought a goofy smile to the face of the middle Obsidian child.

"I underestimated you…" said Shay, still lying flat on his back. "I never expected this to occur, for you to finally beat me...I guess you were right about what you were saying before."

"We all want Lulu back big bro." said Aren. "I know that it's eating at you every day that she's in the hands of Duel Academy...but if we want to get her back, we have to do it as a team…that's why I'm letting you and Yuto go the Standard Dimension, but like I said before, I don't want you two going alone."

"Now that Aren's knocked some sense into you, we should decide who stays and who goes." said Shark.

"Six of us should stay here to help with the Resistance, while three of us go with Shay and Yuto to the Standard Dimension to find this Professor's son." said Rio.

"The three of us will stay here." said Quinton, motioning to him and his brothers. "We can help with protecting the citizens still stranded in the city find safe zones outside of the city."

"Sarah and I will stay here as well." said Alex, turning his head to his Clover Branch classmate. "We'll pull our weight in attacking Duel Academy compounds and helping treat the wounded."

"Rio and Shark should go with them." piped up Sarah. "If one stays and one goes, they will be constantly worrying about each other. If they go together, they can watch each other's backs.

"That leaves Kite and Aren." said Quattro.

"I'm going." said Aren, causing everyone to look at him. "I need to go for the same reason as Shay: to save my sister. Plus Kite, your father and little brother need you here to help protect them and the other families. Nothing against any of you, but you are the strongest of us all here, and the Resistance needs some strong fighters to begin a counterattack campaign against those Fusion freaks."

"Hey, who says he's the strongest of us all?!" angrily asked Shark.

"Shark," said Quattro, attracting the Kastle male's attention. "Just shut up."

Kite studied the 16 year old Duelist with a look of inquisitiveness. Aren thought that the Tenjo would yell at him, but to his surprise Kite simply gave a nod of agreement.

"You're right, Aren." said Kite emotionlessly. "I need to look after my father and Hart. But that doesn't mean I still can't help you out on your mission." Kite plucked a card from his deck and handed it to the War Eagle. Aren recognized it as one of Kite's favorites: Cipher Shift.

"You're giving your copy of Cipher Shift to me, Kite?" asked Aren.

"That way I'll be with you in spirit." explained the Galaxy-Eyes user, cracking a slight smile.

"Then take this from me." said Alex, handing Aren another Spell Card, this one entitled Railway Effect. Sarah then handed him her Twinkle Light Spell, while Trey gave him his Chronomaly Connection card.

"We may not be going with you, but when you draw those cards, we hope you'll remember us and everyone here fighting for our freedom." said the youngest Arclight.

"You guys…" said Aren, tearing up. "You guys are the best friends I could have ever asked for. I promise you that we will get Lulu back. We'll do it or be carded trying." With that statement, the Obsidian and Kastle siblings walked over to Yuto, who was still holding the card he removed from his Extra Deck.

" _The reasons you gave Kite weren't the only reasons, were they Aren?"_ questioned Soarnight, his spirit appearing before Aren.

' _You're right.'_ thought back the War Eagle. ' _You may have a point about what you said before about his Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon. Even if you are right, which I still don't think you are, he should probably stay in Heartland. Who knows how Cipher Dragon would act in a dimension that could possibly be aligned with Duel Academy.'_

"Why do you have Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon out on the field?" questioned Rio.

"Because in order to create the portal, we need to use some of Dark Rebellion's power." explained the Phantom Knight Duelist. "I can't explain it fully because I don't understand why, but I just know that Dark Rebellion will allow us to travel across dimensions."

"We're using the Duel Disk we took from a Slifer Red to actually transport ourselves, since they are programmed to be able to travel across dimensions. We'll use Dark Rebellion as a conduit to create a portal to allow us all to go in." said Shay. He touched the shield-shaped disk's screen and started the Dimension Transfer program. Yuto held Dark Rebellion's card overtop of the Fusion disk and waited for a moment.

Just when Aren was about to ask if something had gone wrong, Dark Rebellion's card glowed a light shade of blue. The Dimension Transfer Program then fully activated in response, the interacting energies creating a portal in front of the five Resistance Duelists. The other six watched in awe from a safe distance, so that they wouldn't accidentally fall into the portal.

"You ready?" asked Shay. The other four nodded. They all turned back to their comrades in the distance, nodding at them with reassuring smiles. Just as the five jumped into the portal, a vision of a red bipedal dragon with one red eye and one green eye, and a duelist with red and green hair and a pair of confident red eyes with a face identical to that of Yuto's flashed in Aren's mind.

' _What...was that?'_ wondered Aren in confusion, right before he felt himself feeling a incredibly powerful sense of vertigo and passing out as a result of entering the portal. The last thing he saw was his allies staying behind walking away, returning to the hellish landscape behind them to continue in their fight.

* * *

 **[Sometime Later]**

Aren opened his eyes groggily, feeling asphalt on his face. He picked himself off of the ground and surveyed the landscape around him. It was night time, but the city before him was still very much lit up. He heard the sound of water behind him, turning around to see that the city was on the coast of the ocean. In the heart of the city was a massive blue and silver tower with the letters LDS on the top in gold.

"Did...we make it?" asked Aren.

"We did." said a voice behind him. Aren turned around to see Yuto standing on top of a shipping crate, while Shark helped his dizzy sister stand up on the ground beneath him. Shay was also on top of the shipping crate, but he was looking at the his Duel Disk's pop-up radar and was currently gazing through it at the tower in the distance. "We made it to the Standard Dimension."

* * *

 **{Next Time:}**

 **The five Heartland Resistance members set up base in an abandoned warehouse. In order to learn more about Duel Academy's possible ties to the Standard Dimension, Yuto and Aren scout out the city before them, but then they see someone that takes them completely by surprise.**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **EE Sideshot (Counter Trap)**

 **-If an opponent's Monster declares a Direct Attack, decrease that Monster's ATK points by 300 for every 300 point difference in your LP.**

 **Space Blaster Fortress (RANK 9, 3100/3400, 2 LV. 9 Monsters)**

 **-Effect Unknown at this current time**

 **EE - Freedom Sparrow (LV. 1, 100/400)**

 **-When your opponent's Monster destroys an EE Xyz Monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand in DEF position, then reduce the damage you would have taken by 100 for each EE card in your Graveyard. If this card is used as Xyz Material, it counts as 2 Monsters.**

 **EE Half Buster (Equip Spell)**

 **-Target 1 Monster your opponent controls: reduce its ATK points by 800, take control of it, and then equip it with this card. The equipped Monster can not be used as a tribute or as Material for a Extra Deck Summon, and it returns to your opponent's field at the End Phase. During the Battle Step or Damage Step, when a EE Monster you control attacks: You can banish this card from your Graveyard; until the end of the Damage Step, all Spell and Trap Cards your opponent controls have their effects negated, also they cannot activate Spell and Trap Cards.**

 **EE Skydrop (Continuous Spell)**

 **-Target one Special Summoned Monster your opponent controls: it can not declare an attack as long as this card remains on the field. You can banish this card from your Graveyard: force a Monster on your opponent's field with more than 3000 ATK points to attack a Monster on your field, but 2000 of its ATK points are absorbed by your Monster.**

 **Rank-Up-Magic Enigma Eagle's Final Ascendant (Normal Spell)**

 **-Pay half of your LP: Special Summon 1 EE Xyz Monster from your Graveyard: Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 EE Xyz Monster that is double the Rank of that Monster control, by using it as the Xyz Material. (This Special Summon is treated as an Xyz Summon.)**

 **EE - Twilight Falknir (RANK 10, 4000/3000, 3 LV. 10 Monsters)**

 **-If this card was summoned by using an EE Xyz Monster as material, destroy all cards your opponent controls. This card cannot be destroyed the turn it is summoned. You can detach one Xyz Material per turn: this card can attack as many times as cards were destroyed by its rank-up effect. When this card battles a Special Summoned Monster, that Monster's ATK and DEF become 0.**

 **Cipher Shift (Continuous Spell)**

 **-Effect currently unknown.**

 **Twinkle Light (Normal Spell)**

 **-Effect currently unknown.**

 **Railway Effect (Normal Spell)**

 **-Effect currently unknown.**

 **Chronomaly Connection (Normal Spell)**

 **-Effect currently unknown.**


	4. Little Miss Lookalike

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

"So this is the Standard Dimension." said Shark, who then whistled. "I've gotten so used to the sight of rubble and broken dreams that I forgot what a peaceful city actually looks like."

"I know what you mean." added Aren, staring at the sky. "After months of nothing but smoky skies and crumbled buildings, seeing all of this is surreal.

" _The skies are clear here."_ marveled Soarnight Sniper, whose spirit appeared next to the War Eagle. " _No dust floating about either. This would be a good place to go flying."_

' _We can think about flying some other time.'_ chided Aren, flicking the Enigma Eagle's spirit with his finger. ' _Right now we need to set up a base site.'_

"Where should we set up shop?" asked Rio, the Kastle female adjusting her Resistance hairband nervously. "We obviously need to do it in an inconspicuous location, but with a city this large, there are so many to choose from."

"I can take a look around and try to find a spot." suggested Aren, holding up the box that contained his extendable wings.

" _Ooh! Ooh!"_ cheered Soarnight. " _We're going to go flying! Yes!"_

"Alright, but be careful." emphasized Yuto. "If this dimension is truly aligned with Duel Academy, we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves, so fly high and use your radar to scope out the area."

"Okay Mr. Gloom and Doom." said Aren dismissively. He activated his personally-built mechanical wings and took off into the night sky. At about 2500 feet he pulled down his hexagonal goggles over his eyes, pushing a button on the side. His mechanical eye's iris suddenly glowed green as a wireframe layout over the entire city below him, giving him the details on the construct of the city.

" _What did you find out?"_ asked Soarnight, whose spirit was now flying next to his duelist partner's.

"Well this place is called Paradise City. Seriously, I'm not kidding." sweatdropped Aren. "I mean it's a nice city and all but it's no Heartland. Whoever came up with that name should be thrown from a building."

" _That seems a little extreme."_ remarked Soarnight, plucking a feather off of his wing and holding it out in front of him. " _Any good hiding spots?"_

"There are a lot of decent ones like Rio predicted, but I haven't seen one yet that meets our needs." replied the middle Obsidian child distractedly.

" _You seem unfocused."_ observed Soarnight, waving his plucked feather in front of his razor-sharp beak. " _Something on your mind?"_

"...You're going to think I'm crazy." warned Aren after a moment's consideration.

" _Try me."_ challenged the Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster.

"Right as I jumped into the portal that took us here from Heartland, I saw an image of a Duelist with a red bipedal dragon that had one red eye and one green eye, while the Duelist himself had red and green hair and a pair of the most confident red eyes I have ever seen." said Aren.

" _But it's not the vision that's bothering you, is it?"_ asked Soarnight.

"Nothing gets by you does it, plucky?" chuckled Aren. "It's the Duelist's face. I swear he looked like a carbon-copy of Yuto, only if our Phantom Knight Duelist was a tomato-haired happy-looking person. It's very strange and yet I feel like he's familiar somehow...like he's like Yuto, but also his own person."

" _That is peculiar indeed."_ said Soarnight, letting his feather dissolve into tiny green sparkles. " _Do you think it could just be a coincidence?"_

"Aren rule number one: There are no such things as coincidences." said the War Eagle. "After how many duels of being my partner have you still not learned my rules?"

" _Because some of your rules are just plain weird, like that number twenty-six."_ mocked Soarnight.

"If I want to send my brother a picture of my girlfriend I can do so." argued Aren. "Shay's always told me that the girl has to pass his photo inspection before I can keep dating her. If she gets below a seven, dump her. If she gets above a seven, keep it going. Is that wrong?"

" _Yes. Yes it is."_ said Soarnight with a definitive attitude.

"Everyone's a cynic." muttered the Obsidian. Just then, a noticed flashed on his goggles, directing his attention to the port district of the city. "There's an abandoned warehouse that has an underground bunker of some sorts by the ocean. Shay should like that..."

" _Aren."_ said Soarnight.

"Just a second." replied the War Eagle haphazardly.

" _AREN."_ repeated the Enigma Eagle.

"One second bird brain!" muttered Aren.

" _NEWSPAPER!"_ squawked the Obsidian's spirit partner. Just as Aren turned back towards his partner his face was obscured by a stray newspaper, the Obsidian teen struggling to remove the gazette from his face.

"Ugh!" said Aren gaspingly, pulling the paper off of his face. "Warn me sooner next time, okay?"

" _Oh I'm sorry."_ mocked Soarnight. " _I did but all that got me was a couple of snarky replies. Pay more attention the next time I try to get your attention."_ Aren ignored the WIND-attribute monster and looked at the article on the front of the page. The War Eagle suddenly screeched to a halt, hovering above a residential district of the city, staring at the article in shock. " _What? What is it Aren?"_

"We need to get back to the others now." said Aren, performing a mid-air u-turn. "Yuto needs to see this." Ten minutes later, the Obsidian had returned to the spot where he and his four comrades had entered the Standard Dimension. Deactivating his wings, he fell from eight feet in the air on to the ground, jarring his mechanical leg doing so. The Kastle twins had started dueling each other without their Duel Disks, their cards laid out in front of them. Yuto was watching with interest, while Shay kept watch at the other end of the alley.

"Ha! Bahamut Shark now attacks you directly!" said Shark, snapping his fingers. Rio huffed as she crossed her arms in disappointment. "Different dimension, same result little sis! I win again!"

"You only beat me because I still feel a little queasy!" pouted the Kastle female. Just then she noticed Aren standing above her with a sly look on his face. Rio huffed once more, kicking the Obsidian in the stomach. Aren bent over, clutching his gut, letting out a pained gasp.

"What...was that for?" wheezed Aren, Soarnight's spirit howling in laughter behind him.

"That was for sneaking up on me!" said Rio steamingly. "Did you find a good spot for us?"

"I did." confirmed the War Eagle. "There's an abandoned warehouse by the ocean with an underground bunker underneath of it. When I did a scan of it I found out that it's an old Duel Monster's card storage cellar, so on top of finding us a place, we might find some cards there that we can use to bolster our arsenal."

"That's good." commented Shark, picking up his Bahamut Shark card and looking over it.

"Did you guys find anything?" asked Aren.

"I found this badge lying in the alleyway." said Yuto, holding up a small pin that depicted the same LDS logo as the one on the building they saw earlier. "It turns out that the building is called the Leo Institute of Dueling, or the Leo Duel School to match the LDS."

"Leo…" muttered Aren. "Isn't that the first name of that Professor guy at Duel Academy? Leo Akaba?"

"Right." said Shay, walking over to the rest of the group. "I think we can safely confirm that the Standard Dimension is aligned with the Fusion Dimension and Duel Academy."

"We don't know that for sure, but it looks like you may be right." said Rio.

"There's something that I found that you need to see Yuto." said Aren, handing the Phantom Knight Duelist the newspaper that had hit him. Yuto gasped when he saw the picture on the article, showing a black-and-white image of a duelist with the exact same face as him.

"Whoa...that guy could be your twin or something Yuto." commented Shark shocked.

"According to the article, his name is Yuya Sakaki. He made the front page for showcasing an entirely new summoning method called Pendulum Summon." explained Aren. "It says that he used his Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon and this never before seen summon to take down the city's top Action Duelist 'The Sledgehammer's' Battleguard King and become the new king of Action Duels."

"Pendulum Dragon…" muttered Yuto, pulling out his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. "I wonder if Dark Rebellion and this Odd Eyes have a connection…" Aren noticed that as he said that the Phantom Knight duelist gained an uncomfortable look on his face.

"What do you mean Yuto?" asked Rio.

"Think about it." said the War Eagle. "Two boys with identical faces each possessing a dragon whose third word contains a specific type of summoning method. That can't be a coincidence, which you all know I don't believe in. What's more is the timestamp of when this Pendulum Summon occurred. According to that article, this Pendulum Summoned was performed by Yuya at the EXACT moment we teleported ourselves from Heartland to here, and that before his Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon was just called Odd Eyes Dragon."

"That is peculiar indeed. Do you think our arrival here in the Standard Dimension could have triggered this new summon?" commented Shay. When no one responded, he shrugged. "Anywho, let's head over to this bunker you saw little bro. The sooner we get there and get situated, the sooner we can start our goal of capturing this Professor's son."

"Agreed. Let's move out." said Yuto, leading the group of five onward.

* * *

 **[1 Hour Later]**

"This is the place, huh?" said Shark, unimpressed. Aren felt he was justified in his opinion, considering how the place looked. The abandoned warehouse lived up to its reputation of being abandoned, with the orange paint peeling off of the metal walls and windows being cracked. The remnants of an old wooden sign that must have identified the building's previous use laid in front of the door, which was rusted and hanging partially off of its hinges.

"The more inconspicuous we are, the better." said Aren.

"Let's head inside and find this bunker." ordered Shay, marching inside.

"Who made you the boss?" grumbled Shark, the Kastle brother following the eldest Obsidian inside. Rio, Yuto and Aren followed the two of them inside and began surveying the building. The inside was no better looking than the outside, signs of decay and age evident all around the five Xyz Dimension Duelists.

"According to the blueprints of the building, the bunker access should be somewhere hidden in the floor." said Aren, stopping over a particularly dusty spot. "I think it's right here." The War Eagle wiped away the dust, which revealed a rusty handle. Aren tugged on it, revealing a hidden slot about three feet in diameter. Aren jumped down the hole and marveled at the sight around him. "You guys need to see this." The other four Heartland freedom fighters jumped down into the room that the War Eagle had discovered. The room around them was much more modern than the rundown warehouse that housed it. The room had fully functioning electricity along with several shelves that all had some cards on them. It also for some reason contained several open boxes that had camping supplies in it, complete with blankets, spare batteries, and pillows.

"Looks like when this place was abandoned they forgot about this place mostly." said Rio happily, running over to the card shelves and picking up a few cards. "Ooh! This one looks like it would work really well in my deck!" The Kastle female pulled out her white Xyz Dimension Duel Disk and placed the card in her Main Deck, the cards shuffling themselves when she did so.

"Thank goodness for lazy cleanup people." said Yuto, removing a pillow and fluffing it for himself. "We'll have everything we need here, minus food and water of course."

"I'll hand it to you, Aren." said Shark. "The place may remind me of our wasteland of a home, but down here we have a fully functional base of operations."

"We'll get started first thing tomorrow." said Shay. "For now we should rest up. It's been a hectic day. I'll take the first watch, so you all get some sleep."

"Yeah, no thanks to you and Yuto." murmured Aren, smirking slightly when he saw his older brother turn toward him with a scowl on his face.

" _We did good work today."_ remarked Soarnight, whose spirit had pulled up a transparent pillow and was currently lying on top of.

' _I won't even ask how you did that, but you're right.'_ thought back Aren jokingly. ' _But the real thing starts tomorrow. Let's rest now and get started.'_

 **[The Next Morning]**

"When I did my scan of the city I found out some information about the Professor's son." said Aren. He and his four comrades were currently gathered around Aren's goggles, who were currently displaying the wireframe layout of Paradise City that the War Eagle had taken the previous night on his surveillance flight. "Apparently Leo Akaba has not been seen in the Standard Dimension in several years, and in his absence his son Declan has taken his father's place as the President of the Leo Corporation. His office is at the top of the Leo Corporation's tower in the heart of the city, but it is guarded 24/7, so we can't just march in and nab him."

"What do you think we should do instead?" asked Rio.

"We take out the staff of his company one by one." said Shay, causing everyone to look at him. "We beat the Leo Corporation officials one by one, card them, and send their cards to Declan in his office. At some point, he'll have to show his face in person, and then we'll duel him, defeat him, go to the Fusion Dimension and order his father to give up Lulu in exchange for his son's release."

"I don't know…" muttered Rio. "If the Standard Dimension isn't aligned with Duel Academy, we'll be carding completely innocent people in cold blood. That would make us no better than the Duel Academy low-lives that we're trying to take down to free Heartland."

"This is the best possible option that we have." said Shay fiercely. "If this Declan is truly a Duelist of honor, he won't stand for what we're doing and face us before too many of his goons are carded by us."

"I agree with Shay on this one." said Shark, causing his sister to turn toward him in surprise. "He and I went over different options while you and Aren slept, and this is the best option of the ones that we came up with, and I don't think you guys would approve of abducting him while he's in his office and stuffing him in a potato sack and flying out on Aren's wingpack."

"No one uses my wingpack but me." warned Aren, pointing his finger at the Shark-deck user.

"If no one objects, we'll begin this operation this evening." said Shay, standing up from his kneeling position.

"I object! This is wrong!" argued Rio, stopping the eldest Obsidian.

"Correction, are there any _males_ that object?" said Shay straight-faced.

"Oh because I'm a girl my opinion doesn't matter?" challenged Rio, who then proceeded to kick Shay in the knee. As his older brother hobbled up to the warehouse's main floor, Aren sighed and chuckled inwardly. The War Eagle walked over to the shelves containing the cards left behind by the Leo Corporation when the abandoned the facility. A lot of the cards were Normal Monsters that were level four or below, but he noticed a Spell Card entitled Jetstream Path, whose picture depicted a Monster soaring on a silver colored wind draft.

" _That's an interesting card you found there."_ said Soarnight, appearing next to his human partner.

"It says you can increase the levels of all WIND-attribute Monsters on your field by the number rolled on a six-sided dice." marveled Aren, who proceeded to add the card to his deck.

" _Definitely could come in use sometime in the future."_ said Soarnight nonchalantly.

"Hey Aren." called Yuto. Aren turned his attention toward the Phantom Knight Duelist. "I was going to head out into the city to try and make some more sense of what's going on between the Leo Institute and the Fusion Dimension. Do you want to come with me as backup?"

"Sure. We really shouldn't go out alone into the city now that we have our base of operations set up." said the War Eagle, thinking of his brother. As the two Heartland natives exited their bunker, leaving the Kastle twins to man their fort, they stopped to take a look at the ocean.

"The water here is clearer than glass." marveled Aren, inhaling deeply. "Ever since Heartland was invaded, I've been so used to seeing the bay tinged gray with dirt and toxic material, that seeing this water now makes me realize how lucky these people are."

"Why do you say that?" inquired Yuto.

"If the Standard Dimension and the Fusion Dimension really aren't in league with one another, there would have been nothing to stop Leo Akaba from attacking this place or that Synchro Dimension where that Pawn of Fusion came from." said Aren deeply. At the mention of the Synchro Duelist that he had faced in the prior month, Yuto looked at his feet and grimaced.

"Are you ever going to tell me what it is that spooked you so heavily during that duel with that guy?" asked the middle Obsidian child. "The only other time I have seen you look that freaked out...is yesterday, when I showed you that article about that Yuya guy."

"...What would you say if I told you that the Duelist from Synchro also looked just like me?" asked Yuto nervously.

"Two days in the past I would have laughed and called you crazy." admitted Aren. "But after seeing that article about that guy Yuya, I admit I'm quite a bit curious now. So we have three boys now, each from a different dimension, each sharing the same face as the other two. I take it that this guy also had a dragon partner with Synchro in its name?" Yuto's lack of a response was all the answer that the War Eagle needed. "I wouldn't dwell on it too much Yuto. There are more important things to be worried about at the moment, and right now we need our Phantom Knight to be at the top of his game."

"Yeah...you're right!" said Yuto, shaking his head. "Let's do our best to save Lulu!" As the two began walking again, Soarnight's spirit appeared next to Aren once more.

" _Why did you lie to him Aren?"_ questioned the Enigma Eagle monster with a serious look on his face. " _You told him that this thing with those other two boys isn't important at the moment, but I can tell you're thinking quite a bit about it."_

' _Could it really be a coincidence Soarnight?'_ thought Aren to his partner. ' _Am I right in lying to him and saying that it's not a big deal, or could it actually be a big part of what's going on around us?'_

* * *

 **[Later that Day]**

The two Heartland natives were now standing on a warehouse at Paradise City's other port, gazing upon the Leo Institute building in the distance. Yuto was looking back and forth between it and the badge he had found that was currently in his hand.

"Do you think we should call it a day?" asked Aren to the Phantom Knight Duelist, who had put his goggles on, along with covering his mouth with a black mask, and his Resistance attire covered by a tattered black cloth. "We haven't found anything out and the sun's starting to set. Rio and Shark will be worried if we don't get back soon."

"Yeah, you're probably right." said Yuto, turning toward the Enigma Eagle Duelist. "Let's head-" Yuto suddenly stopped, his eyes widening from underneath his goggles. Aren turned toward the direction the wielder of Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon was staring at, his eyes widening in shock. Running towards the warehouse next to the one they were currently standing on was a girl wearing a sleeveless light-blue and white shirt with a green musical note on the right collar, along with a red tie, overtop of a dark red skirt, dark stockings that covered most of her legs, and pink sneakers. She had blue eyes and dark pink midback-length hair, which she wore tied up in pigtails, clipped down by blue spherical hair clips. Her hair also had two lighter pink bangs that fell to the side of her face, but what struck Aren as the most shocking was not only that fact that the girl wore a metallic, double-banded bracelet with two pink stones set on either side where the bands intersect, framed by a simple rose design, but her face, which was made her a dead ringer for…

"Is that...Lulu?!" muttered to Aren, completely taken aback. "But what is she doing here in the Standard Dimension? She was taken to the Fusion Dimension by Duel Academy! Did she escape or something and change her hairstyle to mask herself from those Fusion freaks?"

"I don't know, but we need to watch her." said Yuto quietly, watching the girl go inside. The two Heartland natives waited a moment, preparing to go in after her, when they saw a young male wearing a white and red uniform approach the warehouse as well, entering the building and then closing the metal doors behind him.

'This could be bad." worried Aren. "We need to go now!" He and Yuto jumped off of the warehouse's roof and onto the ground, where the snuck up from behind the male. Hearing the sounds of an argument going on inside, Aren gently cracked the warehouse door open a foot or so, and tapped the guy's shoulder. When he turned around, Aren jumped into the air, spun once and then kicked the kid's stomach, sending him flying into the warehouse screaming. As the two entered, they noticed three more boys at the opposite side of the warehouse, all wearing the same outfit, with one of them, having blonde and brown hair, having a green Standard Dimension Duel Disk out, but not activated.

"Oh man, now what?" groaned the kid in a pompous voice.

"Hope we're not interrupting." said Yuto in a mysterious manner, eyeing the boy's neck pin: a badge identical to the one he found before.

"If we are, well suck it up." added Aren, moving in front of 'Lulu'.

"And...you two are?" asked the girl, Aren realizing her voice sounded exactly like his sister's.

"People who are on a _very_ special mission." said Yuto enigmatically. "A mission that we will complete no matter what the cost." As the boy Aren kicked rejoined his friends, the boy with the green Duel Disk spoke again.

'Yeah, that's good and all, but can't you see we're in the middle of something?" said the boy rudely. "We're about to duel." At that statement, Yuto pulled his left arm out, his Duel Disk already attached.

"Yes…" said Yuto firmly. "We are!" As Yuto's purple Duel Disk blade activated, Aren also held his arm out, but he didn't activate his arm disk, rather he extended it to protect the girl.

"Never seen a Duel Disk like that before." muttered the rude boy. When Yuto didn't respond, the guy continued on talking. "Well if you aren't going to talk, maybe you'll duel."

"Hold on a second pal." said 'Lulu.' "This is my fight, not yours-" Aren stopped her by grabbing her shoulder with his non-mechanical arm.

"I don't want you to get hurt anymore, so let him handle this." said Aren, causing the girl to let out a small noise of confusion.

"Alright then Mr. Mystery." said the rude boy. "I'll duel you, but when I win, you have to take off that silly mask or yours!"

"Fine by me." replied Yuto quietly. The two began their duel, with Yuto utilizing his signature face-down strategy, baiting the boy, 'Sylvio' as his cronies called him, into destroying them all with his Mobius the Mega Monarch monster, so that he was able to use his Phantom Knights - Shadow Veil to Xyz Summon Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, a maneuver that took everyone but Aren by surprise.

" _He is not wasting any time."_ remarked Soarnight Sniper calmly, watching Dark Rebellion destroy Sylvio monster after increasing its attack points to 4600 and leaving Mobius with only 700 via its special ability, leaving the cocky kid with only 100 life points left. As he said this, Yuto protected 'Lulu' from the explosion, a piece of debris hitting is goggles in doing so. Yuto then walked over to Sylvio, who was trembling violently on the ground.

"Who are you?!" screamed Sylvio. " Stay away!"

"I will be asking the questions now." said Yuto, holding up the badge he had discovered earlier. "This badge is from the Leo Institute, is it not? What is your connection to Duel Academy?"

"Duel Academy?" asked Sylvio, shrugging. "Sorry pal, you got me there."

"Don't play dumb!" said Yuto said, raising his voice.

"I'm not playing!" insisted Sylvio. "Everyone who enrolls at the Leo Institute has a badge like that. As for Duel Academy, I don't know what you are talking about! Is it a place, a thing, what?"

" _This kid is a waste of our time."_ said Soarnight unhappily.

"Hey." said Aren towards Yuto. "He doesn't know anything useful. Let's go."

"...You are of no use to us. This duel is over." said Yuto to Sylvio after a moment, walking back over to Dark Rebellion.

"Hehe...you think so huh?" mocked Sylvio. "I activate the Trap, Ice Rage! Now since your dragon destroyed my Water-attribute monster, your monster is also destroyed, and you take damage equal to it's attack points! 4600 to be specific! Hahaha!"

"Not happening." states Yuto calmly. "I activate the effect of Phantom Spear from my graveyard! Since you activated a Trap Card, by banishing this card, your Trap activation is negated and the Trap destroyed!" A single spear surrounded by spirits and enclosed by a magical circle appeared in front of Yuto appeared, destroying Sylvio Trap, much to the guy's shock. "Then you take 100 points of damage."

"Eek! WAIT CAN'T WE TALK THIS OUT PLEASE WE CAN WORK OUT SOMETHING!" screamed Sylvio, waving his arms wildly.

"No, you wanted to finish this, so I am finishing it for you!" Phantom Spear then shot at Sylvio, pinning him to the wall by his jacket, leaving the kid with no life points and some very wet pants.

 **SYLVIO LP: 0**

 **WINNER: YUTO**

"And since you still seem to have no idea who I am.

.." said Yuto, unclasping his mask and letting it fall in a front of a fire, revealing his face to everyone in the room.

"HUH?!" everyone shouted.

'Lulu' then approached Yuto cautiously and said, "Yu...ya?"

"Ayghhh….I think I need to lie down." said Sylvio weakly, passing out.

"Um…that's falling down." said one of his cronies, the other two helping their leader up, before all running out of the warehouse like they had seen a ghost, one of them wailing in fear of Yuto.

"Yuya?" questioned 'Lulu' once more, looking closely at Yuto.

' _Wait, so she knows this Yuya guy then? The one that looks just like Yuto? Could she not be Lulu after all?'_ thought Aren.

" _I don't think she is, because she would've recognized you and Yuto on the spot."_ said Soarnight.

' _Then...who is she?'_ wondered Aren in confusion.

"What's with those clothes...and the hair-dye...and how did you get here so fast?" questioned the girl. Just as Yuto was about to respond, the girl's bracelet began glowing, releasing a blinding pink light! Aren was forced to cover his eyes, but just as he was doing so, Yuto suddenly vanished in a shower of pink sparkles.

"What the?" muttered the girl, looking around in confusion. Looking around she noticed that Aren was still present. "Here did your friend go? And who are you two?!"

"Zuzu!" called a voice from outside. Aren and the girl turned to the entrance of the warehouse to see a boy panting, his hands on his knees. "Are you okay?" The boy lifted his head up, and the middle Obsidian child gasped in shock, a mental image of the newspaper article flashing in his mind. As this rolled through his head, Aren groaned as he heard a roar emanating from the boy's red Duel Disk.

' _That's him! That's that Yuya guy!'_ thought Aren. ' _But why did that girl's bracelet glow...and why is that this guy shows up the second Yuto disappeared?'_

" _Aren! You might be wise to get out of here before they start asking too many questions!"_ warned Soarnight. " _Get back to base, now!"_

"Wait...who are you?" said Yuya, pointing at Aren. The War Eagle narrowed his eyes and activated his silver duel disk blade.

"I activate the Spell Card Jadelight!" called Aren, playing a green-bordered card. The card then emitted a blast of emerald green light, blinding Yuya and the girl. Taking advantage of the situation, Aren activated another Spell Card called Shadow Stitch, which allowed Aren to teleport himself to the outside of the building and begin running off.

"It's just one thing after another already Soarnight." said Aren, using his wingpack to take flight. "That roar I heard had to be from Yuya's Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon...but its roar was more frustrated than challenging...it's almost as if Odd Eyes was frustrated about missing something…"

" _Do you think that something was Dark Rebellion?"_ questioned Soarnight, the War Eagle looking at his spirit partner in confusion. " _You theorized those two dragons may have a connection...maybe they in fact do…"_

"Yeah...maybe…" muttered Aren, allowing the wind to carry him through the skies.

* * *

 **{Next Time:}**

 **Rio begins investigating the connection between Yuya and Yuto's dragons per Aren's request, while Shark and Shay begin the operation to capture Declan Akaba. Meanwhile, Yuto and Aren observe the pink-haired girl to try and learn new information about the Standard Dimension and Duel Academy.**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **Jadelight (Normal Spell)**

 **-Apply these effects until the end of this turn:**

 **Your opponent cannot activate Spell/Trap Cards in response to your Xyz Summon(s) this turn.**

 **Once per turn, if you Xyz Summon a WIND-attribute Monster: You can draw 1 card.**

 **Shadow Stitch (Normal Spell)**

 **-During this turn, Monsters your opponent controls cannot activate their effects.**

 **Jetstream Path (Normal Spell)**

 **-Roll a six-sided dice: increase the levels of all WIND-attribute Monsters on your field by the number rolled.**


	5. Strike and Survey

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

"So that's what happened." concluded Aren. The War Eagle had just finished giving a summary of the events in the warehouse with him, Yuto, and Sylvio to Shark, Rio, and Shay.

"So this kid had no clue what you were talking about when you asked him about Duel Academy, is that right Yuto?" asked Shay emotionlessly.

"Right, but this kid was dumber than dumb." said Yuto, with a hint of mockery. "He claimed to be the best that LID had to offer, but I beat him in three turns."

"So does this mean that Duel Academy really has no ties to the Standard Dimension, other than the fact that this is the place where the Professor originated from?" asked Rio carefully.

"I wouldn't assume anything just yet." said Aren.

"And why is that?" questioned Shark, the elder Kastle sibling giving the War Eagle an inquisitive look.

"Like Yuto said, this guy was clearly a person of little to no importance at LID, no matter how much of a big hotshot he claimed to be." said Aren. "A person with such little position in LID would have no knowledge of any potential ties between LID and the Fusion Dimension."

"Okay, so then we go for the higher-ups, just like we planned." said Shay, turning toward the ladder to exit their bunker base.

"Hold up Shay, I'm tagging along for this one." said Shark, the purple-haired duelist following the eldest Obsidian sibling out of the bunker.

As Aren watched the two disappear, Soarnight Sniper's spirit appeared next to him. ' _You didn't tell Shay about that Lulu-lookalike that you and Yuto saved from Sylvio and his posse of losers. Why not?'_

' _I am not getting Shay's hopes up.'_ thought back Aren dismissively. ' _If that girl really isn't Lulu, then who is she? And why does she look exactly like my sister? Besides, I need to figure out why her bracelet teleported Yuto away. The others were suspicious when he came back a full 15 minutes before I managed to get here last night. Even though Yuto and I were able to give the three of them a suitable excuse, it won't work again. So I need to get to the bottom of things before I pull Shark, Shay, and Rio into the loop.'_

' _But you're not putting Yuto in the loop either, are you?'_ questioned Soarnight.

' _No, I'm not. I'm still concerned about the roar that Yuya's dragon gave when his duelist showed up at that warehouse.'_ replied back Aren mentally. ' _I didn't tell Yuto about it, but I need to figure that out too before he becomes suspicious.'_

' _Speaking of suspicious, if you start poking around places you shouldn't go and keep all these secrets from those four, you're going to lose their trust, and in a foreign dimension that may or may not be allied with our enemy, with no way to return home for the time being, losing the trust of the only familiar faces you have is the LAST thing you want to do.'_ warned Soarnight.

' _Yeah...I know.'_ said Aren, mentally grimacing.

"Ughh...those two." groaned Rio, stomping her feet. "Honestly I can't tell which one is more annoying...no offense Aren."

"Oh you're absolutely right." agreed Aren, nodding at the female Kastle's statement. "Even though I knocked some sense into him in Heartland, it feels like he's just going back to how he was before, and this time I don't think beating him in a duel is going to get through to him. At least your brother is more rational than Shay."

Rio then turned to Yuto, who was deep in thought. "So are you going to do some more surveillance?"

"Huh? What?" said Yuto in a hurried daze. "...Oh...yeah...I was going to watch the tower from some different areas in the city and see if I can get a good angle on Declan Akaba's office."

"Okay, I'll stay here and watch the area for any suspicious characters." said Rio.

As Yuto began exiting the bunker, he turned to Aren. "Are you coming with me Aren?"

"Yeah...just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be out." said Aren. Shrugging, the Phantom Knight duelist ascended the ladder and vanished from sight. Aren then turned to Rio, who was once again surveying the various cards left behind on the shelves. "I need a favor Rio, and it needs to stay between the two of us."

"Sure. What do you need?" said Rio.

"I need you to learn everything you can about that Yuya guy's monster, Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon." said Aren, Soarnight Sniper's spirit reacting in shock.

"...I'm not following Aren." said Rio slowly. "What's with the sudden interest in the dragon of Yuto's lookalike?"

"Just do it for me, please?" asked Aren politely. Rio studied the War Eagle's eyes for a moment, looking back and forth between his normal eye and his mechanical one for nearly a minute, before sighing in defeat.

"Okay, but you owe me...again." said Rio.

"I don't owe you again." said Aren, narrowing his eyes. "Just because I suggested that you announce Shark's fear of onions over the loudspeakers at the four branches doesn't mean I _dared_ you to do it. You chose to do that, I didn't force you, and as hilarious it was to see Shark embarrassed...I don't owe you for that." With that statement, Aren began ascending the ladder to join Yuto outside.

' _Why DO you want Rio to investigate Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon?'_ questioned Soarnight, the WIND-attribute Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster's spirit ascending along with Aren.

' _I need to see if Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Yuto's Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon have any similarities.'_ explained Aren mentally. ' _I used to think I knew everything about Yuto's ace, but after coming here I realize that I may in fact be completely wrong. If those two dragons indeed have a connection between them, we need to know about it and what it means for the safety of not only our mission, but for the safety of Yuto as well.'_

' _Yuto's safety? And what do you mean by that?''_

* * *

 **[Later that Day]**

"Well...today has been productive." said Aren, yawning. He and Yuto had been poking around the nooks and crannies of Paradise City that had good vantage points of the Leo Duel School tower and had found several different good spots. "Shall we call it a day and head back?"

"Hold up Aren." said Yuto, holding out his hand. The War Eagle turned to see that the Phantom Knight duelist had stopped and was looking at the ground.

"What's up Yuto?" asked Aren, turning to his friend.

"There's something I need to do before I head back…" said Yuto, a hint of trepidation in his gravelly voice. "I want to try and find that pink-haired girl and see if she really is or isn't Lulu."

Aren sighed inwardly. He really did know Yuto too well. Many times during Duel Academy's assault, when the Resistance was forcing the last of the Fusion forces into retreat, Yuto would leave the battlefield to check to see if Lulu was alright. He knew that the two of them were pretty much dating, even if they hadn't officially been calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend.

"What if she's not Lulu, Yuto?" asked Aren. "If she turns out not to be my sister and your girlfriend, what then? Will you keep stalking her from the shadows?"

"If that girl turns out not to be Lulu, then I'll keep an eye on her." said Yuto shortly. "I made a promise to myself during Duel Academy's attack that I would do everything it took to protect Lulu from being turned into a card. I couldn't stop those Fusion freaks from taking her, but I can do my best to keep that girl out of harm's way."

"What do you mean harm's way?" inquired Aren.

"No doubt the public will take notice of our operations, even if they do not know who is causing the disappearances of the Leo workers." explained Yuto. "If that girl becomes too curious, she might end up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Or Shay might see her and get the wrong idea." added Aren.

"Yeah...that too." muttered Yuto, thinking of Aren's brother.

After a moment of standing in silence, Aren shuffled his feet. "Alright then Phantom Knight, let's go find this girl." Yuto looked at the middle Obsidian child in surprise.

"Really?" asked Yuto, as if asking for confirmation.

"I want to know for sure if she's Lulu or not too." said the War Eagle, his mechanical eye turning up to the sky. "Besides, who knows what trouble you might get yourself into all alone out on the streets." Yuto huffed like a child, before giving a small smile of amusement.

"Alright then Mister War Eagle." said Yuto in a slightly mocking tone. "Let's find this girl."

* * *

 **[Meanwhile]**

Shay was currently standing firmly in an alleyway in the far edge of Paradise City, facing off against a rather flamboyant looking LID employee with brown hair that overcropped his golden bangs. The employee wore a loose-fitting purple kimono-like shirt and black pants. He wore an orange Standard Dimension duel disk with a light purple blade. He had no cards in his hand or facedowns on his field, and the only monster on his field was the Fusion Monster: The Last Warrior from Another Dimension. **(LV. 7; ATK: 2350, DEF: 2300; EARTH)**

 **SHAY LP: 3500**

 **MARCO LP: 850**

On Shay's field were three copies of Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius and two facedowns. While he also had no cards in his hand, he wore an expression of utter hatred mixed with an aura of extreme coolness.

"Who...who are you?!" cried out Marco in horror. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing much." replied Shay simply. "Just your soul trapped in a card, Fusion freak! It's my turn!" Drawing his card, Shay's eyes narrowed underneath his goggles. "I Overlay my three Vanishing Lanius's in order to build the Overlay Network!"

"No you don't!" cried out Marco, his confidence rising slightly. "As long as my Fusion Monster is on the field, neither one of us can Normal, Flip, or Special Summon any Monsters!" As he said this, The Last Warrior gained a brown aura, which then surrounded Shay's feathered flock, preventing them from flying into the Overlay Network.

"I activate the Trap, Raidraptor - Shutdown!" said Shay, his right-most facedown flipping upward. "With this, since the Special Summoning of a Raidraptor Xyz Monster was negated, in exchange for your Monster not being able to be destroyed by battle this turn, my three Main Deck Raidraptors gain attack points equal to half the difference in our Life Points!"

"Wait, that means-!" shouted Marco in horror.

"Yes, you are aware of what happens now." said Shay. "My Vanishing Lanius trio will now grow by leaps and bounds!" **(Vanishing Lanius #1,2,3 ATK: 1300 - 2625)**

"No! Wait! Have mercy!" cried out Marco, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Did your company's allies ever show us mercy?" said Shay softly, causing Marco to crock his head in confusion. "Wipe him out! Vanishing Lanius trio, attack this Fusion user's Monster!"

Marco screamed as the three attacks sent shockwaves through the air, flinging him unconscious into a concrete wall behind him, which was marked with several slashes from Shay's Raidraptor trio.

 **MARCO LP: 850 - 525 - 200 - 0**

 **WINNER: SHAY**

Shay approached the terrified form of the now conscious-again LID professor and pressed a button on his Duel Disk, which released a blue light. Marco evaporated into a shower of blue sparkles, completely disappearing from the ground. A second later, a blank card popped out of Shay's Xyz Dimension Duel Disk, before displaying a picture of Marco holding his hands in front of him in horror.

"One down...however many to go." muttered Shay, pocketing the card.

* * *

 **[At the Same Time]**

At the opposite end of the city, Shark was currently engaged in a duel against a female LID professor with curly orange hair that wore a navy blue business dress. The woman currently had no cards in her hand, but had one facedown and one monster: Crimson Sunbird **(LV. 6; ATK: 2300, DEF: 1800; FIRE)**

On Shark's field was his signature Xyz Monster Bahamut Shark **(RANK 4; ATK: 2600, DEF: 2100; OU: 2)** , and while he also had no cards in his hand, he wore an expression of extreme smugness mixed with an aura of confidence, as if he already knew the outcome of the duel.

 **SHARK LP: 2800**

 **CHAUNTELLE LP: 1100**

"I'm up now!" said Shark, drawing a card from his Duel Disk. Looking it over, he grinned maliciously. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic High Tide Force!" A Spell depicting a glowing WATER-attribute Monster leaping out of the ocean appeared in front of the older Kastle twin.

"Rank-Up-Magic?!" said the LID woman in confusion and slight fear. "What does that do?!"

"With my WATER-attribute Bahamut Shark as the target, High Tide Force ranks-up my Monster and summons a Shark Monster one rank higher!" Bahamut Shark turned into a stream of blue light, which dove into the Overlay Network portal, which released a massive blue column of light into the air. "Unknown roar of the ocean! Rise from the trenches of the deep with the force of a cascading waterfall! Go Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! Appear, Bahamut Sabre Shark!" A white and blue dragon-like shark nearly identical to Bahamut Shark appeared in front of Shark, but only it now had six wing-fins instead of three, and each of them were serrated like a sawblade. **(RANK 5; ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500; OU: 3)**

"What is that thing?!" cried out the LID woman in horror, stumbling back onto the ground.

"A Monster that's very hungry...hungry for your soul!" said Shark hotly, pointing at the LID lady. "I activate Bahamut Sabre Shark's special ability! By using one Overlay Unit, your pathetic little phoenix-wannabe is transformed into one of Sabre Shark's Overlay Units! Go Trench Divine Soul!" The six wing-fins on Shark's Xyz Monster suddenly turned into tendrils of blue light, which wrapped themselves around Crimson Sunbird, causing to shriek loudly. The Fusion Monster was then turned into a blue orb of light, which then flew over to Bahamut Sabre Shark and began orbiting the WATER monster.

"Crimson Sunbird, no!" cried Chauntelle in shock.

"There's more!" said Shark. "Now until the end of the turn, Bahamut Sabre Shark gains attack points equal to that of your Crimson Sunbird!" **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ATK: 3000 - 5300)**

"I activate the Trap Card Solar Flare!" said Chauntelle, a card depicting a fiery wave being released from the Sun appearing in front of her. "Since my FIRE-attribute Monster left the field, your Monster is destroyed, and you take damage equal to its attack points!"

"High Tide Force's additional effect prevents my Monster from being destroyed by your Spell and Trap cards on the turn that he's summoned!" countered Shark, the Trap dissolving into a shower of yellow sparkles. "Bahamut Sabre Shark, attack her directly with Dragon Shark Slash!" Bahamut Sabre Shark's claws glowed marine blue, slashing the LID professor with them, causing her to scream in pain as the claws dug into her skin.

 **CHAUNTELLE LP: 1100 - 0**

 **WINNER: SHARK**

Shark approached the sprawled form of the LID instructor, before tapping a button on Duel Disk. A beam of blue light hit Chauntelle, whose body dispelled into a shower of blue sparks. A blank card slid out of Shark's Duel Disk, before displaying a picture of the unconscious Fusion teacher after a few seconds.

"Now, where can I find an envelope for this?" said Shark to himself.

* * *

 **[You Show Duel School]**

Per Aren's instructions, Rio had begun investigating Yuya's Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon to try and find any similarities between it and Yuto's Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Her investigation took her to You Show Duel School near the heart of Paradise City. According to the article that Aren had been hit with while surveying the city the other night, this jack-in-the-box style school was where Yuya Sakaki and other Duelists studied to become Entertainment Duelists, or "Dueltainers."

RIo was currently watching from across the street a duel in progress between Yuya and a student of LID called Dipper Orion. Apparently Yuto and Aren's little skirmish with the LID student Sylvio Sawatari had led the higher-ups at LID to believe that it was actually Yuya who assaulted Sylvio. So in response, the chairwoman of LID, a woman named Henrietta, had demanded a three-round duel faceoff between three representatives of LID and You Show. If You Show was victorious, the charges against Yuya would be dropped, but if LID was victorious, then You Show would become part of LID, and Pendulum Summoning would become standard curriculum for all LID students.

Currently things were not looking good for Yuya, who had been driven into a corner by Dipper's Constellar Xyz Monsters, and while Rio admitted his skills as an Xyz user were impressive, she was less than impressive with Dipper's sadistic tactic of returning Yuya's Monsters to his hand with the special abilities of his Constellar Pleiades **(RANK 5; ATK: 2500, DEF: 1500; LIGHT; OU: 0)** and Constellar Ptolemy M7 **(RANK 6; ATK: 2700, DEF: 2000; LIGHT; OU: 1)** right when it would the most dangerous for the Pendulum user.

"This Dipper guy is out of this world crazy…" muttered Rio, monitoring the duel through a pair of binoculars as Yuya continued his turn.

 **YUYA LP: 200**

 **DIPPER LP: 3500**

"Swing far, Pendulum! Carve the arc of victory!" cried out Yuya. "My monsters are ready to swing into ACTION!" A portal opened above Yuya, which dispersed two lights, revealing a magician monster Yuya called Stargazer Magician **(LV. 5; ATK: 1200, DEF: 2400; DARK)** , and the main reason Rio was there: Yuya's ace Monster Odd Eyes **(LV. 7; ATK: 2500, DEF: 2000; DARK)**. In addition, a Monster that resembled a mixture of a lynx and a trampoline was already on Yuya's field. **(LV. 2; ATK: 300, DEF: 300; EARTH)**

"So both Odd Eyes and Dark Rebellion are DARK-attribute Dragon-type Monsters with 2500 attack points and 2000 defense points." noted Rio.

"I activate Performapal Turn Toad's Pendulum ability, which will let me flip Stargazer Magician's attack and defense points! Get turning, Turn Toad!" called out Yuya.

"Pendulum ability?" muttered Rio in confusion, looking to where Yuya was pointing. Her eyes widened as she saw a toad wearing a circus-like outfit in a pillar of blue light, a number 3 below it. Turn Toad glowed as Stargazer's stats flipped. **(Stargazer Magician ATK: 1200 - 2400, DEF: 2400 -**

"I activate Magical Star Illusion!" said Yuya, activating a Spell Card. "Now since Stargazer Magician is front and center, all Monsters on the field gain 100 attack points multiplied by the total levels of all the Monsters on our fields!"

"Smart move!" murmured Rio. "Xyz Monsters have Ranks, not Levels. That means only Yuya's Monsters will gain attack points! Since the combined levels of those three Monsters is 14, each of his Monsters gets 1400 attack points!"

 **(Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon ATK: 2500 - 3900)**

 **(Stargazer Magician ATK: 2400 - 3800)**

 **(Performapal Trampolynx ATK: 300 - 1700)**

"Odd Eyes attack Constellar Ptolemy M7!" shouted Yuya. "Spiral Flame Strike!" Odd Eyes unleashed a torrent of crimson and black fire, which destroyed the machine-like dragon on Dipper's field.

 **DIPPER LP: 3500 - 2300**

"Now Stargazer Magician, attack Constellar Pleiades! Astronomy Attack!" continued Yuya. Stargazer's staff unleashed a series of lights arranged in a pattern of a constellation. The lights struck Dipper's Monster, before connecting together and ripping apart the Xyz Monster.

 **DIPPER LP: 2300 - 1000**

"Now Trampolynx, attack Dipper directly!" finished Yuya.

"No...I'm allergic!" Rio heard Dipper say weakly. Dipper was engulfed by the bounce cat before being flung into the duel arena's chain-link border.

 **DIPPER LP: 1000 - 0**

 **WINNER: YUYA**

"Well that was certainly impressive." said Rio, finding herself unable to stop smiling. "I didn't learn everything about Odd Eyes, but I learned a lot about Yuya himself...he's a pretty interesting guy...reminds me of that guy Sarah talked about...what was his name again? Oh it'll come to me." Rio then walked out of her hiding spot and back toward the hideout.

Unbeknownst to her, a person wearing a black and red hoodie and red-bordered sunglasses standing outside of You Show had been watching her...keeping tabs on her just as she had been on Yuya…

 **[Alleyway]**

"We looked around all afternoon and there's no sign of her." said Aren, panting with the exhaustion of walking around all day.

" _You need to work out more."_ remarked Soarnight, his spirit appearing next to his master's. He then began flexing his wings like a showoff would. " _Look at those muscles Aren. I tell you if you did my daily regimen you would be as strong as me!"_

' _If I did your daily regimen I would have two metal legs instead of one.'_ thought back Aren, his mechanical eye rolling in exasperation. ' _Anytime I don't fly I walk. I have a good metabolism so I don't have to worry about not staying in shape. Besides, I'd rather not stoop to your level.'_

" _What's that supposed to mean, huh?!"_ shouted back Soarnight, before huffing and then vanishing from the War Eagle's sight.

"Maybe we should call it a day." said Yuto, sighing. "We can go at it again tomorrow if we want to."

"I guess." said Aren, stretching his non-prosthetic leg. "I wonder how Shay and Shark are, seeing as they started the plan and all."

"If I know those two, they'll be fine." replied Yuto nonchalantly. "I just hope Rio didn't get too bored babysitting. It must not be very exciting babysitting our hideout."

"Yeah…" muttered Aren, hiding a hint of sheepishness. Because he had asked Rio to find out any possible connections between Dark Rebellion and Odd Eyes, he was sure that the female Kastle twin had actually NOT been babysitting their below-bunker base, but had probably been wherever Yuya Sakaki had been.

" _I hope you know what you're doing, keeping these secrets from the others."_ said Soarnight, reappearing before Aren. " _You're playing a very dangerous game that could end up biting you in the tail feather."_

' _Well luckily for me, I don't have any tail feathers, or any feathers at all for that matter.'_ thought back Aren. ' _But you're right. If I don't play this right, it could come back to haunt me in a BIG way…'_

* * *

 **[Resistance Base]**

Aren was currently surveying the carded LID employees that Shay and Shark had brought back with them. Having mirrored Duel Academy's Human Sealing Technology for the Resistance to use for themselves, he was looking over the cards to see not only if his work was serving the others well, but to see if Shay and Shark were taking things too far.

"Man this really sucks." said Aren after a moment. "If Standard turns out to have no connection at all to Duel Academy, you two just carded completely innocent people."

"But if they do, which is very probable," countered Shay angrily, "then we need to keep on attacking these goons so that we can get to Declan Akaba. The more people we attack, the sooner he'll come out to face us himself, and the sooner we can get Lulu back. I will do whatever it takes to rescue our sister Aren!"

"Even if it means tainting your soul so that you become that which you have sworn to fight?" asked Rio. Shay and Shark turned to the only female in the group with a look of confusion. "This isn't our home. These aren't Fusion warriors we're attacking to help save our home. This isn't even a battlefield. We have to remember that if we keep doing this."

Shay offered no response, but clicked his tongue in slight annoyance with the younger Kastle twin.

"With all the fun we're having here, I bet Kite and the others back home are having a stroll through paradise." joked Aren, thinking of his friends back home. ' _Someday this war will be over, and all of us will be able to go back to the way things were...Lulu will be back, smiles will return to Heartland, and there will be no more threat of harm ever again for our people.'_

* * *

 **[Flashback]**

Ten months ago, Aren was dueling Kite in the annual Heartland Duel Invitational. On Aren's field was one of his strongest non-Xyz Enigma Eagle's, known as Braveheart Curassow **(LV. 7; ATK: 2600, DEF: 2000; WIND)**. On Kite's field were his two signature dragons, Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon **(RANK 8; ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500; LIGHT)** and Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon. **(LV. 8; ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500; LIGHT)**

 **KITE LP: 1400**

 **AREN LP: 900**

"Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, attack Braveheart Curassow!" called out Kite. "Photon Stream of Destruction!" Kite's dragon launched a massive blast of energy at the Enigma Eagle on Aren's field.

"I activate the Trap, Enigma Eagle Explosion!" said Aren, revealing a facedown card. "Since you have at least two Monsters on your field with over 2000 attack points and one declares an attack, this Trap cuts both of your dragon's attack points by the my Life Points! So Photon and Cipher Dragon each lose 900 attack points!"

 **(Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon ATK: 3000- 2100)**

' _Yes...I did it!'_ thought Aren exuberantly. ' _I beat Kite!'_

"I activate the Trap, Photon Cipher Eruption!" said Kite, a Trap of his own revealing itself. "Since both Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon are on my field, your Trap is negated, and both of my dragons then gain attack points equal to the combined total of our Life Points!" Two lights shot from the Tenjo brother's Trap, each one striking his dragons, which gained a blue aura that pumped them full of strength.

 **(Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon ATK: 2100 - 3000 - 5300)**

"No way!" shouted Aren in disbelief, stepping back in shock. "I thought I had you!"

"Think again buddy!" called back Kite confidently, a smile etched across his face. "Now continue with your attack Photon Dragon!" Kite's non-Xyz Galaxy Eyes blasted the middle Obsidian child's Braveheart Curassow with an energy blast, causing the War Eagle to fall onto the ground with a sting in his stomach, his Enigma Eagle destroyed and his hopes dashed.

 **AREN LP: 900 - 0**

 **WINNER: KITE**

Kite held out his held for Aren to take, which he graciously accepted. The two shook each other's hands, before turning to the cheering crowd around them and taking a bow.

"One day I'll surpass you teacher." said Aren happily, turning to the Galaxy Eyes user.

"Keep dreaming Aren." said the Tenjo teen teasingly. "But keep working hard, and you will accomplish your dreams one day."

 **[End Flashback]**

* * *

' _Kite...I'll keep working hard to accomplish my dream, just like you told me a lifetime ago.'_ thought Aren to himself nostalgically. ' _I just hope that you stay true to yourself while we're separated.'_

* * *

 **{Next Chapter: Kastle Crasher}**

 **Shark sees the pink-haired girl and mistakes her for Lulu. In order to get the Kastle twin to keep it a secret from Shay, Aren initiates a duel with him. As it progresses, Aren is shocked when Shark reveals his evolved strength, threatening to submerge him in an ocean of terror.**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **Raidraptor - Shutdown (Normal Trap)**

If the Special Summoning of a Raidraptor Xyz Monster was negated this turn, all Main Deck Raidraptors gain Attack points equal to half the difference between your Life Points and your opponent's Life Points. Monsters your opponent controls cannot be destroyed the turn you activate this card.

 **Rank-Up-Magic High Tide Force (Normal/RUM Spell)**

Target one WATER-attribute Shark Xyz Monster on your field: Special Summon from your Extra Deck a WATER-attribute Shark Xyz Monster that is 1 Rank higher, using that Monster as Xyz Material (this Special Summon is treated as an Xyz Summon). The Monster summoned by this card's effect gains this effect:

It cannot be destroyed by your opponent's Spell and Trap Cards during the turn it is Special Summoned.

 **Bahamut Sabre Shark (RANK 5, 3000/2500, WATER)**

Once per turn, you can detach one Xyz Material: target one Monster on your opponent's field: attach that target to this Monster as an Xyz Material. Until the end of that turn, this card gains ATK equal to that of the Monster attached to it.

 **EE - Braveheart Curassow (LV. 7, 2600/2000, WIND)**

Once per turn, you can target cards your opponent controls equal to the number of EE monsters in your Graveyard: destroy them. This card gains 100 ATK points for each EE Monster in your Graveyard. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 lower leveled Winged Beast-Type Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.

 **EE - Explosion (Normal Trap)**

When there are two monsters on your opponent's field with more than 2000 ATK points and one declares an attack, reduce their ATK points equal to the amount of your LP, and then end the Battle Phase.

 **Photon Cipher Eruption (Normal Trap)**

If you have both Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon on your field and either are targeted by a Spell of Trap effect, that effect is negated, then both Monsters gain ATK equal to the combined total of you and your opponent's LP.


	6. Kastle Crashers

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Aren, I want you and Shark to go out together today." said Shay.

"When you say go out, you don't mean-" started Aren.

"He means out on scout detail, bird brain." huffed Shark in annoyance. "He doesn't mean go out like on a date."

"I knew that." responded Aren plainly. "I'm just trying to defuse the tension in here. Seriously, what's with all the doom and gloom in here? Normally it's only Yuto but not all of you!"

"What's that supposed to mean Aren?" questioned Yuto angrily.

"He means that you don't really show your positive side much Yuto." said Rio, yawning.

"Can we get back on topic, please?!" yelled Shay. The eldest Obsidian sighed in exasperation before clasping his hands together. "Shark and Aren, you take the pier area on the opposite side of the city. Yuto, I want you on building tops looking for any LID goons that we could jump. Rio and I will find some more food and water for us, we're starting to run low."

"We've been here for only a few days and we've already nearly exhausted the food and water we had?" remarked Aren, the War Eagle cocking his head to the side.

"Alright Rio fess up." said Shark, turning to his younger twin sister. "Have you been pigging out while the four men have been working?"

 **BAM!**

"That's for calling me a pig, big brother." said Rio hotly, cracking the knuckles on her right fist, which she had just used to slug her older brother in the jaw. The Kastle brother picked himself off of the ground, groaning while doing so.

"Point taken…" murmured Shark. "But if turns out that I'm right, you'll get the same punch to the face."

"If you hit a girl, namely me, I will drop you!" retaliated Rio, putting her fist beneath her brother's chin.

"Okay, okay." grumbled Shark. "I'll meet you outside Aren, okay?"

"Sure, be out soon." replied the War Eagle, watching the Kastle male climb out of their bunker hideout.

"Hey Aren." whispered Rio, motioning the Obsidian middle child to come over to her. After Aren positioned his ear next to Rio's face, she continued on. "I watched Yuya Sakaki duel yesterday and I saw his Odd Eyes. Both it and Dark Rebellion are DARK-attribute Dragon-type Monsters with 2500 attack points and 2000 defense points. While I did not learn about Odd Eyes' ability, if it does share a connection with Dark Rebellion, it probably has something that activates while there is a level 5 or higher Monster on his opponent's field. uI learned something else about that you should probably know."

"What did you find out?" asked Aren curiously.

"During his duel, Yuya activated what he called a 'Pendulum ability.' It looks like Pendulum Monsters have abilities that can only be activated while they are set in Yuya's Pendulum Zones. So Yuya's Odd Eyes may have even more hidden power to it." explained Rio quietly, recalling the details of her surveillance operation yesterday.

"Okay...so they have the same attack and defense, the same attribute, the same type, and possibly the same activation conditions for their abilities to activate." surmised Aren. "Okay, thanks for looking into it Rio. Keep this a secret from the others, okay?"

"Okay then, but now you DO owe me, okay?" mouthed Rio sternly.

"Yes, and this time I won't argue with you about it." whispered Aren teasingly, exiting the base.

* * *

 **[Later that Day]**

"I said it before and I'll say it again, everything is just surreal." said Shark. Aren turned to the Kastle brother with curiosity expressed on his face. "We've been fighting for so long that I've forgotten what the sun looks like, what it's like to not have the sky covered with haze and smoke, what it's like to not worry about surviving until the next day, and most of all what it's like to see a true smile."

"Yeah...I agree completely." said Aren.

" _Shark's wiser than we all give him credit for."_ said Soarnight Sniper, appearing next to Aren. The ace of the War Eagle was currently filling his sniper rifle with new bullets. " _The fighting has affected everyone in ways that are not very good, but Shark seems to mostly the same as he was before the invasion."_

' _That's because Shark has always been wise.'_ thought back Aren, studying the Kastle male with an inquisitive expression. ' _Even if he's always had an attitude problem and is stuck up as a swine, he's loyal like no one else in the Resistance, and unlike Shay and I, he's able to protect his sister from harm…'_

"Hey…" said Shark, narrowing his eyes at something in the distance. Aren followed the Kastle's line of sight, before widening his eyes in shock. None other than the pink-haired Lulu-lookalike was standing with a small light-blue haired boy in blue outside of a warehouse. "Is...is that Lulu?!"

' _Crap!'_ shouted Aren internally.

' _Someone's in trouble now.'_ warned Soarnight Sniper.

"Aren are you seeing this?!" said Shark in shock. Aren grabbed Shark and pulled him into an alleyway, putting his hand over the Kastle brother's mouth. Shark wrenched himself out of Aren's grip and stared at the War Eagle with a look of confusion mixed with anger. "What are you doing Aren?! That's Lulu over there!"

"No it's not!" shouted Aren, taking Shark by surprise. The Kastle male pondered the War Eagle with a strange expression on his face: one of mixed anger and bewilderment.

"What are you not telling me, Aren?" asked Shark slowly, his voice rising.

"You can't tell Shay about what you saw, okay? This has to stay between the two of us and Yuto." said Aren hurriedly.

"Oh, so you're keeping secrets now are you?!" said Shark hotly. "We're on the same side Aren! We are in a war, and the last thing you should be doing is keeping secrets from everyone else!"

"Shark calm down!" said Aren quietly, trying to hush his friend.

"No, I will not calm down!" stated Shark angrily, pulling out his Duel Disk, and subsequently activating its purple blade. "You and I are dueling right now and after I beat you, you're going to tell me everything that you've been hiding from the rest of us! Got that?!"

" _He's not going to take no for an answer, you know that more than anyone else."_ said Soarnight, appearing next to his duelist. Aren groaned in annoyance at his partner, before activating his mechanical arm's silver wing-shaped blade.

"Fine, I accept your challenge Shark." said Aren. "But only because I know that you won't take no for an answer!"

"LET'S DUEL!" shouted both Xyz Dimension residents.

 **SHARK LP: 4000**

 **AREN LP: 4000**

"The first move is mine Aren!" said Shark, looking at the five cards in his hand. "Since there are no monsters out on my field, I can Special Summon Saber Shark from my hand!" A shark-like monster with a giant sword-like appendage on its forehead appeared in front of the Kastle brother. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1600, DEF: 1200; WATER)** "And with a WATER-monster now on my field, I can call out Silent Angler!" A puffer-fish like monster with a glowing antenna appeared next to Saber Shark. **(LV. 4; ATK: 800, DEF: 1400; WATER)**

"Shark's signature starting move at full effect.." muttered Aren, taking notice of his friend's familiar first-turn strategy.

"Next I activate the Spell Card Tidal Phoenn!" said Shark, activating a third card from his hand. "This lets me draw a card if I summon a WATER-attribute Xyz Monster from my Extra Deck, so prepare yourself, 'cause I'm raring to go right from the start!"

"Two Level 4 Monsters...here it comes…" muttered Aren, bracing himself.

"I overlay my Level 4 Saber Shark and Silent Angler in order to build the Overlay Network!" shouted Shark, raising his hand. His three monsters transformed into three streams of blue light, which dove into the Overlay Network portal, which released its own stream of blue light into the air. "Howl through the earth, beast of the seas! Rise from the trenches and bring terror to our foes! I Xyz Summon Bahamut Shark!" Shark's ace monster: a blue and white bipedal dragon-like shark with four wing-fins appeared on the field, growling at Aren. **(RANK 4; ATK: 2600, DEF: 2100; ORU: 2; WATER)**

"You've arrived, Bahamut Shark…" said Aren, eyeing the Xyz Monster with a glare of his own.

"Tidal Phoenn now allows me to draw another card since I brought out Bahamut Shark!" said Shark, drawing a card from his deck and adding it to the two in his hand. "Now I activate Bahamut Shark's special ability! By using one Overlay Unit, I can summon a Rank 3 or lower WATER-attribute Xyz Monster from my Extra Deck out onto my field, so long as I prevent Bahamut Shark from attacking this turn!"

"But since you can't attack if you go first, you're not giving up anything…" said Aren.

"That's right! Now go Bahamut Shark!" said Shark, pointing at his ace. One of Bahamut Shark's blue Overlay Units shot into Shark's Extra Deck, which glowed with a blue light. **(Bahamut Shark ORU: 2 - 1)** "From my Extra Deck I call forth Endless Nightmare Shark!" Appearing next to Bahamut Shark was a shark/bat hybrid-like monstrosity with no eyes, whose arms were long scythes, and had two long wings that stretched for 10 feet on either side of its body. **(RANK 3; ATK: 2000, DEF: 2000; ORU: 0; WATER)**

"That's the monster you found when you went deep-sea diving." commented Aren, eyeing the creepy monster on the Kastle brother's field.

"Tidal Phoenn now lets me draw another card!" said Shark, drawing yet another card. "Now I activate the effect of Deep Sweeper in my hand! Since Endless Nightmare Shark has no Overlay Units, I can attach this card as an Overlay Unit to it straight from my hand, even if Deep Sweeper's level number and Endless Nightmare Shark's rank number aren't the same!" Deep Sweeper's **(LV. 4; ATK: 1200, DEF: 1400; WATER)** card transformed into a blue orb, which began cycling around Endless Nightmare Shark. "And on the turn Endless Nightmare Shark is summoned, I can attach a Level 3 WATER-attribute Monster from my hand to it as an Overlay Unit! So Big Jaws, go help your friend!" Big Jaws **(LV. 3; ATK: 1800, DEF: 300; WATER)** , like Deep Sweeper, turned into a blue orb that began circling around Endless Nightmare Shark. **(Endless Nightmare Shark ORU: 0 - 2)**

"Good move alright. Since it was Special Summoned rather than Xyz Summoned, Endless Nightmare Shark had no Overlay Units." said Aren, piecing together Shark's moves. "But by using Deep Sweeper and Big Jaws, Endless Nightmare Shark now has two Overlay Units."

"Now I activate the Spell, Chain Summon!" said Shark, activating one of the two remaining cards in his hand. "Since I have now successfully summoned successive Xyz Monsters, I can Special Summon an Xyz Monster whose Rank is 1 lower than the Endless Nightmare Shark's! So from my Extra Deck come forth in Defense Mode, Tiny Cat Shark!" In between Shark's two massive Xyz Monsters appeared a tiny aquamarine kitten with a shark tail. The kitten meowed cutely, rubbing its head with a paw before giving Aren watery eyes. **(RANK 2; ATK: 500, DEF: 500; ORU: 0; WATER)**

"OH MY GOSH THAT IS THE CUTEST LITTLE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!" gushed Aren, running over to the little cat. He began rubbing its head with his non-mechanical arm, watching it purr with delight as it stretched out its body.

"Aren!" shouted Shark in utter disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?!" retorted Aren. "I'm fulfilling every Internet cat meme there is by offering it a cheeseburger!"

"What are you even saying?!" said Shark, sweat-dropping in exasperation. "Ugh...I end my turn with a facedown. It's your move now. If you would kindly stop petting my cat and begin dueling!"

"Huh?" said Aren, staring at Shark. "Oh right! We're dueling! My turn, I draw!" Aren drew a card, looking at it and then the five in his hand, a plan formulating in his head.

"Before you start, I activate the Continuous Trap Overlay Award!" said Shark, his facedown card flipping up. "Now every turn, I can give an Overlay Unit to any Xyz Monster on either field! So I'll give this first one to Tiny Cat Shark!' Overlay Award spat out a blue orb, which began circling around Shark's utterly adorable kitten.

"I summon out to the field Enigma Eagle - Silent Jayhawk!" A tiny bipedal eagle with a jayhawk's wings appeared in front of Aren, brandishing a boot knife. **(LV. 2; ATK: 600, DEF: 200; WIND)** "When this little guy is successfully summoned, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or below Winged-Beast Monster from my Deck, except for Silent Jayhawk. So from my Deck I'm calling out Enigma Eagle - Bullet Blader!" Aren's sword-gun wielding eagle appeared next to SIlent Jayhawk. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1600, DEF: 1200; WIND)**

"Just like you to summon birds every turn Aren." taunted Shark.

"I'm not done! I activate the Spell Card Upshift!" said Aren. "Thanks to this card which Kite gave me as a birthday present so many years ago, the levels of all monsters on my field become the same as the one with the highest level on my field! So Silent Jayhawk joins Bullet Blader in the Level 4 club!" **(Silent Jayhawk LV. 2 - 4)**

' _He now has two Level 4 Monsters as well.'_ thought Shark.

"I Overlay Level 4 Silent Jayhawk and Bullet Blader in order to build the Overlay Network!" Aren's two monsters transformed into green lights, which went into the Overlay Network portal, which released a blast of blue light into the sky. "Grand and noble guardian spirit of the sky! Descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon!" Aren's slammed a black-bordered card on his silver disk blade. "Arise! Enigma Eagle - Sky Kunai!" An eagle wearing a wolf-shaped war helmet and transparent metallic armor, wielding a kunai sword flew out of the blue pillar of light and onto the field in front of Aren. **(RANK 4; ATK: 2500, DEF: 2000; ORU: 2; WIND)**

"Now we're getting serious!" said Shark, bracing himself.

"I activate the effect of the Xyz Material Bullet Blader! Now Sky Kunai can deal piercing damage against a defense position monster! Sky Kunai's ability now activates!" said Aren. "By removing one Overlay Unit, he can attack every Special Summoned Monster on your field twice each! Even if this ability prevents them from being destroyed by battle, I can manage by dealing you damage!"

"But Sky Kunai has fewer attack points than Bahamut Shark! You won't be dealing any damage to me, but definitely some to yourself when you attack him!" retorted Shark.

"I activate the Continuous Spell, Windblight Extreme!" said Aren, playing one of the three cards remaining in his hand. "Now each time Sky Kunai declares an attack on one of your Monsters, it gains 200 attack points! Since it can attack all three of you Monsters twice each, that's six times it will gain 200 attack points!"

"That's a little overpowered, isn't it?" questioned Shark.

"Screw overpowered, I'm half metal!" said Aren, pointing a finger at his comrade. "Time to dance Shark! Sky Kunai, attack that adorable Tiny Cat Shark! At attack declaration, Windblight Extreme gives my monster 200 more attack points! Now strike that little guy...but gently please!" **(Sky Kunai ATK: 2500 - 2700)** Sky Kunai's saber glowed white, as he charged over to the smallest of Shark's three Xyz Monsters.

"Not so fast! I activate Tiny Cat Shark's special ability! By using an Overlay Unit, all Rank 4 or lower WATER-attribute Xyz Monsters on my field have their attack and defense points doubled until the end of the turn!" said Shark, one of his cat-shark's Overlay Unit's disappearing. **(Tiny Cat Shark ORU: 1 - 0)** All three of Shark's monsters gained a blueish-white aura, giving them each more strength.

 **(Tiny Cat Shark ATK: 500 - 1000, DEF: 500 - 1000)**

 **(Endless Nightmare Shark ATK: 2000 - 4000, DEF: 2000 - 4000)**

 **(Bahamut Shark ATK: 2600 - 5200, DEF: 2100 - 4200)**

"Are you kidding me?!" exclaimed the middle Obsidian in shock. "They're all supercharged now! But I've got a countermeasure! I activate the Quick-Play Spell, Beak Truncation!" A Spell depicting a parrot pecking a field of monster's activated in front of Aren. "When the attack points of my opponent's monsters are altered by a card effect while I have an Xyz Monster on my field, I can decrease each of their attack points by 500 for each monster on your field! However, any battle damage you take this turn will be halved!" Three lights shot from the War Eagle's Spell, weakening each of the Kastle male's monsters.

 **(Tiny Cat Shark ATK: 1000 - 0)**

 **(Endless Nightmare Shark ATK: 4000 - 2500)**

 **(Bahamut Shark ATK: 5200 - 3700)**

"That doesn't matter much! Even if you lowered its attack power, Tiny Cat Shark is in defense mode, so your piercing damage doesn't increase at all, plus Bahamut Shark will still be stronger than Sky Kunai when it attacks him!" taunted Shark.

"Continue your attack on Tiny Cat Shark, Sky Kunai! Aerial Ascension Cut!" said Aren. Sky Kunai slashed Tiny Cat Shark, causing it to hiss in pain.

 **SHARK LP: 4000 - 3150**

"Once more Sky Kunai, attack Tiny Cat Shark! Aerial Ascension Cut!" continued Aren, watching his monster slash Shark's monster for a second time, but not being destroyed. "Don't forget, since Sky Kunai gains 200 attack points each time it attacks, you'll take more damage this time!" **(Sky Kunai ATK: 2700 - 2900)**

 **SHARK LP: 3150 - 2200**

"Now set your sword upon Endless Nightmare Shark! And Sky Kunai gains 200 more attack points!" Aren said, pointing at Shark's second Xyz Monster. **(Sky Kunai ATK: 2900 - 3100)** "Attack with Vilhelm Saber!" Sky Kunai threw his sword at Endless Nightmare Shark, the blade piercing Shark's Xyz Monster's side.

 **SHARK LP: 2200 - 1600**

"Consecutive strikes start now!" said Aren. "Attack again Sky Kunai!" **(Sky Kunai ATK: 3100 - 3300)** Sky Kunai's sword twisted itself in Endless Nightmare Shark's body, causing the WATER-attribute monster to roar in pain.

 **SHARK LP: 1600 - 800**

Shark groaned, his body shaking from the 3200 points he had lost from his Life Points. "Impressive, you must really want this win. But if you attack Bahamut Shark who has 3700 attack points, not only will you lose your only monster, but you'll take damage!"

"That's why I'm choosing not to attack Bahamut Shark!" said Aren. "At the end of the Battle Phase, Windblight Extreme's effect ends, and Sky Kunai's attack points return to normal." **(Sky Kunai ATK: 3300 - 2500)** "Beak Truncation's effect ends as well, meaning your three monster's attack points return to their previous amount.

"Hmph...coward." muttered Shark. "Tiny Cat Shark's effect ends in the End Phase, meaning he and my other two monsters lose their power up."

 **(Tiny Cat Shark ATK: 0 - 500, DEF: 1000 - 500)**

 **(Endless Nightmare Shark ATK: 2500 - 2000, DEF: 4000 - 2000)**

 **(Bahamut Shark ATK: 3700 - 2600, DEF: 4100 - 2100)**

"I end my turn with one card facedown." said Aren, choosing to play the one remaining card in his hand.

"Now I'm up, and I draw!" said Shark, adding a card from his deck to his hand. "Due to the effect of the Continuous Trap Overlay Award, I give another Overlay Unit to Tiny Cat Shark!" **(Tiny Cat Shark ORU: 0 - 1)** "I activate Endless Nightmare Shark's special ability! By using an Overlay Unit, at the price of it and Tiny Cat Shark not being able to attack, Bahamut Shark can attack you directly this turn!"

' _Oh boy, that's not good, especially now that Tiny Cat Shark has another Overlay Unit.'_ warned Soarnight Sniper.

' _I'll get slammed with 5200 points of direct damage unless I can get the timing right of my facedown.'_ thought back Aren. ' _Ready for some action buddy?'_

' _Always.'_ replied Soarnight eagerly.

"By using Tiny Cat Shark's Overlay Unit, all WATER-attribute monsters have their attack and defense points doubled again!" said Shark. **(Tiny Cat Shark ORU: 1 - 0)**

 **(Tiny Cat Shark ATK: 500 - 1000, DEF: 500 - 1000)**

 **(Endless Nightmare Shark ATK: 2000 - 4000, DEF: 2000 - 4000)**

 **(Bahamut Shark ATK: 2600 - 5200, DEF: 2100 - 4200)**

"Bahamut Shark, attack Aren directly! End this with 5200 points of damage!" said Shark, punching the air in front of him. "Go Crush Hurricane!" Bahamut Shark's torso became surrounded by a cyclone of water, and it charged at the War Eagle at breakneck speed.

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Predator Cycle!" said Aren, his facedown flipping up. "Since your monster is attacking me directly while its attack points are greater than my Life Points, I can banish Sky Kunai, and summon from my Extra Deck, Enigma Eagle - Soarnight Sniper, with his abilities and summoning conditions negated!"

"What?!" said Shark in shock.

"Sky Kunai, you've served me well!" said Aren. Sky Kunai gave Aren a nod, before dissolving in a circular portal. "Soarnight Sniper, make your mark!" From Aren's Extra Deck emerged his ace monster and number one partner. **(RANK 1; ATK: 500, DEF: 500; ORU: 0; WIND)**

"And now due to Predator Cycle's effect, Bahamut Shark's attack target switches to Soarnight Sniper!" said Aren.

"That won't help you at all!" countered Shark. "You'll still take 4700 points of damage and lose this duel!"

"Predator Cycle has one final effect! By banishing it from my field, I can save Soarnight Sniper from destruction by halving my Life Points!" said Aren. Bahamut Shark slammed into Soarnight Sniper, who managed to throw the WATER monster off of it. As that happened, Aren yelled as Predator Cycle unleashed a burst of electricity, making him droop in exhaustion.

 **AREN LP: 4000 - 2000**

"Impressive. You countered me completely." praised Shark. "But you never saw this coming! I activate the Quick-Play Spell Rank-Up-Magic Cascade Blast!"

"What? He's Ranking Up now?!" said Aren to himself.

"Cascade Blast's effect lets me target a WATER-attribute monster I control, and rank it up into an even stronger Xyz Monster with it and this card as materials! Bahamut Shark, time to power up!" said Shark, his ace diving back into the Overlay Network portal, which exploded in a blast of light.

"He's Ranking-Up Bahamut Shark?!" exclaimed in Aren, blinded by the light. "I've never seen him do that!"

"Unknown roar of the ocean! Rise from the trenches of the deep with the force of a cascading waterfall! Go Rank-Up Xyz Evolution! Appear, Bahamut Sabre Shark!" A white and blue dragon-like shark nearly identical to Bahamut Shark appeared in front of Shark, but only it now had six wing-fins instead of three, and each of them were serrated like a sawblade. **(RANK 5; ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500; OU: 3)**

"What is that thing?" said Aren in shock. "I've never seen you use that monster before Shark! Is...this your evolved strength?!"

"You better believe it is! Cascade Blast's effect now transforms Tiny Cat Shark and Endless Nightmare Shark into Bahamut Sabre Shark's Overlay Units!" Shark's other two Xyz Monsters became two orbs of light that began circling around his new Monster. **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ORU: 3 - 5)**

"Five Overlay Units on a Rank 5 Monster…" muttered Aren.

"I activate Bahamut Sabre Shark's special ability! By using one Overlay Unit, your Enigma Eagle - Soarnight Sniper is transformed into one of Sabre Shark's Overlay Units! Go Trench Divine Soul!" The six wing-fins on Shark's Xyz Monster suddenly turned into tendrils of blue light, which wrapped themselves around Soarnight, squeezing him tightly. **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ORU: 5 - 4)**

"Soarnight, no!" shouted Arne, watching his partner become an Overlay Unit for Bahamut Sabre Shark. **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ORU: 4 - 5)**

"There's more!" said Shark. "Now Bahamut Sabre Shark gains attack points equal to that of your Soarnight!" **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ATK: 3000 - 3500)**

"3500 attack points…" said Aren in shock.

"Your lucky I can't attack any more this turn because of Cascade Blast's effect. But with this bad boy on my field and your field empty, that won't matter! I end my turn." said Shark. "Now do your very worst Aren, that is if you can even make something out of your turn!"

"I will! I draw!" said Aren, drawing a card. ' _And what a draw…I can still do this!'_

"I know that look. You top-decked something again, didn't you?" questioned Shark.

"Since I have no cards on my field, and your have a Monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck with at least 3000 attack points, I can Special Summon this monster from my hand! Appear, Enigma Eagle - Arrow Albatross!" A burly eagle with the traits of an albatross appeared in front of Aren, wielding a metal bow and wearing a quiver of arrows on his back. **(LV. 8; ATK: 2800, DEF: 2000; WIND)**

"Nice top-deck indeed." said Shark, replying to his previous statement.

"And it won't matter that he doesn't have enough attack points to take down your Bahamut, because if I end my turn without it inflicting any damage, Arrow Albatross can deal you 200 points of damage multiplied by the total levels and ranks of the Enigma Eagle Monsters on my field!" exclaimed the War Eagle.

"That's 1600 points of damage!" realized Shark.

"I'll end my turn, and end this duel! Go Arrow Albatross!" said Aren, pointing at Shark. Arrow Albatross released a single arrow from his bow, which glowed white as lightning, heading straight for the Kastle male.

"Not so fast, because by banishing Deep Sweeper from my graveyard, I can reduce your effect damage to 0!" said Shark, a shield of water appearing in front of him, blocking the arrow.

"Tch...great…" muttered Aren in annoyance.

"I draw now!" said Shark, drawing a card. He looked at it and then nodded. "I activate the Spell Flash Fang X! This will increase the attack points of all Shark Monsters on my field by 500!" Bahamut Sabre Shark roared as its strength grew. **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ATK: 3500 - 4000)**

"4000 attack points…" said Aren in awe.

"Now I'll have Bahamut Sabre Shark attack Arrow Albatross! Go Dragon Shark Slash!" Bahamut Sabre Shark's claws glowed marine blue, preparing to slash the War Eagle's Monster with all of its might.

"Not so fast! Arrow Albatross can't be destroyed by battle, so don't think you can take down my bird or prey that easily!" said the middle Obsidian as Bahamut Sabre Shark's claw's got stuck on Arrow Albatross's body.

"But you'll still take the damage! 1200 points worth!" said Shark. Aren gritted as a gust of wind nearly pushed him out of the alley.

 **AREN LP: 2000 - 800**

"At the end of the Battle Phase, Flash Fang X's additional effect activates! Now since the Monster targeted by its effect dealt you damage, all Monsters on your field are destroyed, and you take 600 points of damage for each one! So say goodbye to Arrow Albatross!" said Shark. His Spell card shot out a blue beam which caused Aren's Enigma Eagle to dissolve into a shower of yellow sparkles.

 **AREN LP: 800 - 200**

"I'll end my turn now. Flash Fang X's effects end and Bahamut Sabre Shark's attack points return to normal!" said Shark. "You ready to give up? Because you've got no chance at victory now!" **(Bahamut Sabre Shark ATK: 4000 - 3500)**

"Not a chance, because as long as there still cards to be drawn and moves to be made, I won't stop until one of our life points hit 0!" countered Aren. "I draw!" Looking at his card, a plan formulated in his head. "

"I activate Resuscitation Wing!" said Aren. "By negating his special abilities and reducing his attack points to 0, I can call back Soarnight Sniper from my Graveyard!" Soarnight returned from a black portal in the ground, glaring at Shark. **(RANK 1; ATK: 0, DEF: 500; ORU: 0; WIND)**

' _Welcome back buddy.'_ said Aren mentally.

' _Good to be back man.'_ replied Soarnight gleefully.

"What good will a 0 attack point Monster do you now? Even if he's your ace, there's no point!" questioned Shark.

"Now by the effect of Resuscitation Wing, I draw one more card!" said Aren, placing his hand on the top card of his deck.

' _Make it count man, this could be our last move.'_ said Soarnight.

' _I will!'_ said Aren. "I draw!" A gust of wind emerged from the force of his draw, a trail of emerald light appearing as he did so. "Perfect! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Commendable Valor!" A spell depicting a crest that had an eagle head and two feathers engraved into it appeared before Aren. "Now since your Bahamut Sabre Shark's attack points are at least 2500 greater than that of Soarnight Sniper, I can activate this card! With Soarnight as its target, Commendable Valor summons an Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster one rank higher!" Soarnight turned into a stream of green light, diving into the Overlay Network, which released a pillar of blue light. "Shadow bird of the midnight wind! Descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! Rank Up Xyz Evolution! Rain down, Enigma Eagle - Brush Shooter!" An eagle wearing camouflage equipment and wielding a pair of hand blasters appeared before Aren, screeching a horrifying cry. **(RANK 2; ATK: 1400, DEF: 700; ORU: 1; WIND)**

"Only 1400 attack points?" questioned Shark, raising an eyebrow.

"By using an Overlay Unit, I can banish any card in either one of our graveyards!" said Aren as an Overlay Unit vanished from Brush Shooter. "I'll select Rank Up Magic Cascade Blast! Since it was a Spell Card that I banished, Brush Shooter's other special ability lets me add one Enigma Eagle card from my deck to my hand! I choose Rank-Up-Magic EE Final Ascendant! You'll remember this one from my duel against Shay! I pay half my life points to bring back Sky Kunai from my Graveyard!" **(RANK 4; ATK: 2500, DEF: 2000; ORU: 0; WIND)**

 **AREN LP: 200 - 100**

"Now Sky Kunai ranks-up to become an Enigma Eagle double its rank!" Sky Kunai turned into a stream of green light, diving into the Overlay Network, which released a pillar of blue light. "Master of the crystal clear skies, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! Rank Up Xyz Evolution! Greatness arises as Enigma Eagle - Crystal Scimitar appears before us!" An eagle encased from head to talon in diamond armor, wielding a sword made of emeralds appeared before Aren, stretching out its pure white wings. **(RANK 8; ATK: 3600, DEF: 2900; ORU: 0; WIND)**

"Successive rank ups in one turn…" muttered Shark in shock.

"Crystal Scimitar, attack Bahamut Sabre Shark!" ordered Aren. "Crystal Scimitar's abilities change depending on how many Overlay Units he has! Since he has one, when he battles, he gets an extra 400 attack points!" **(Crystal Scimitar ATK: 3600 - 4000)**

"So what? Even if you can destroy my Monster, I'll still have 300 life points left!" said Shark.

"You think so? I activate Brush Shooter's other ability! By tributing him, I can force your Overlay Award Trap to activate and give Crystal Scimitar another Overlay Unit!"

"It can do what now?!" said Shark, watching his Trap glow in activation. A second Overlay Unit began cycling around Crystal Scimitar, who was still flying at Bahamut Sabre Shark.

"Now go Crystal Scimitar! Wipe out Bahamut Sabre Shark! Krystallos Driver!" Crystal Scimitar began spinning as he flew, turning into a sideways tornado of green light that tore right through Bahamut Sabre Shark, causing the WATER monster to explode.

"Rrgh…" growled Shark, shielding his face from the smoke.

 **SHARK LP: 800 - 300**

"Now Crystal Scimitar's effect activates! Since he now has 2 Overlay Units, because he destroyed your Monster, you take 1000 points of damage!" said the War Eagle, whose Monster unleashed a blast of prismatic light, which engulfed Shark. As it faded, it showed Shark standing unharmed, but looking dazed as wisps of smoke trailed off of his purple jacket.

 **SHARK LP: 300 - 0**

 **WINNER: AREN**

"I win Shark." said Aren, his Duel Disk deactivating.

"I guess you do." said Shark plainly, his eyes off in space. "Strange...I'm not mad anymore. I still want answers from you, but I'm not angry…"

"Strange how that works, isn't it." said Aren casually, patting his friend's shoulder. "We might want to leave now. We seem to have attracted some attention."

"Huh?" said Shark in confusion. He then heard some voices getting closer and his eyes widened. "Yeah, it's time to go." The two of them ran deeper into the alley and out of sight. Just as they vanished from view, the pink-haired girl arrived at the alley's entrance, peering into the darkness with a look of confusion. All of a sudden, the bracelet on her wrist glowed, releasing streams of pink light, just as it had done before.

* * *

 **{Next Chapter: Sweet Defeat}**

 **Spying on the pink-haired girl again, Aren and Yuto are surprised when her blue-haired friend notices them, leading to a faceoff between the War Eagle and the lollipop licker. As the duel progresses, Aren becomes suspicious of the kid's tactics, which remind him of a certain school's…**

* * *

 **OC CARDS:**

 **Brush Shooter (RANK 2, 1400/700, WIND)**

Once per turn, you can detach one Xyz Material: target one card on the field, destroy it. Alternatively, target one card in either Graveyard, banish it. Apply the following effect depending on the type of card destroyed:

Spell: Add one EE card from your deck to your hand.

Trap: Deal 800 points off damage to your opponent.

Monster: Deal 100 damage multiplied the destroyed/banished Monster's level/rank.

You can tribute this card: target one Spell/Trap card on your opponent's field, then activate its effect, targeting an EE Monster you control.

 **Sky Kunai (RANK 4, 2500/2000, WIND)**

Can't be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn, you can detach one Xyz Material, this card can attack all special summoned Monsters your opponent controls twice each, but they can not be destroyed by battle. If this card attacks 3 or more Monsters via this effect, draw 2 cards.

 **Crystal Scimitar (RANK 8, 3600/2900, WIND)**

This card gains the following effects for each Xyz Material it has:

(1) Gains 400 attack when it battles;

(2) When it destroys a Monster in battle, inflict 1000 points of damage to your opponent;

(3) Unaffected by your opponent's card effects;

(4) Add one EE card from your deck to your hand each turn;

(5+) Negate the effects of all cards your opponent controls.

You can detach one Xyz Material from this card, prevent its destruction by battle and halve the damage you take.

 **Deep Sweeper** **(LV. 4, 1200/1400, WATER)**

If you control a WATER attribute Monster, you can attach this card to it as Xyz Material from your hand. You can banish this card from your graveyard: reduce any effect damage you would take to 0.

 **Tidal Phoenn (Normal Spell)**

Draw one card each time you summon a WATER-attribute Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck this turn.

 **Endless Nightmare Shark (RANK 3, 2000/2000, WATER)**

You can detach one Xyz Material: target one Monster on your field except this one: it can attack directly this turn. This card and other Monsters, except the one targeted by its effect, cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.

 **Tiny Cat Shark (RANK 2, 500/500, WATER)**

You can detach one Xyz Material: all Rank 4 or lower WATER-attribute Xyz Monsters on your field have their attack and defense points doubled until the end of the turn.

 **Windblight Extreme (Continuous Spell)**

Each time an Enigma Eagle attacks an opponent's Monster, it gains 200 attack points.

 **Rank-Up-Magic Cascade Blast (Quick-Play Spell)**

Target a WATER-attribute Xyz Monster you control: with this card and the target as Material, Special Summon, from the Extra Deck, a WATER-attribute Xyz Monster 1 Rank higher. After this effect resolves, attach all WATER-monsters on your field to that Monster as Xyz Material. If you activate this card during the Battle Phase, Monsters you control cannot declare an attack.

 **Beak Truncation (Quick-Play Spell)**

When the attack points of your opponent's Monsters are altered by a card effect while you have an Xyz Monster on your field, decrease each of their attack points by 500 for each monster on your field. Any battle damage your opponent takes this turn will be halved.

 **Predator Cycle (Continuous Trap)**

If a Monster your opponent controls attacks directly while its attack points are greater than your Life Points, banish one Monster on your field: Special Summon from your Extra Deck, one Rank 2 or lower Xyz Monster with its effects and summoning conditions negated, then your opponent's attack switches to that Monster You can banish this card from your field and halve your LP: negate the destruction of that Monster by battle.

 **Enigma Eagle - Arrow Albatross (LV. 8, 2800/2000, WIND)**

If you have no cards on your field, and your opponent has a Monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck with at least 3000 attack points, you can Special Summon this monster from your hand. Unaffected by your opponent's Trap cards. Cannot be destroyed by battle. This card can attack twice per turn. If this Monster does not inflict damage to your opponent, you can inflict 200 points of damage multiplied by the total Levels/Ranks of the EE Monsters on your field.

 **Flash Fang X (Normal Spell)**

All "Shark" Monsters you currently control gain 500 ATK, until the End Phase. At the end of this turn's Battle Phase, if a Monster(s) affected by this effect has inflicted battle damage to your opponent: You can destroy all monsters your opponent controls, then inflict 600 damage for each Monster destroyed by this effect.

 **Rank-Up-Magic Commendable Valor (Quick-Play)**

When the difference between the total attack points of the Monster(s) your opponent controls is at least 2500 higher than an EE XYZ Monster on your field, target that Xyz Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 EE Xyz Monster that is 1 Rank higher than that Monster you control, by using it as the Xyz Material. (This Special Summon is treated as an Xyz Summon. Xyz Materials attached to it also become Xyz Materials on the Summoned Monster.)

 **Resuscitation Wing (Normal Spell)**

Target one EE Monster in your Graveyard: Special Summon it to your field, but its effects are negated, and its attack points are reduced to 0. Then draw 1 card.


	7. Sweet Defeat

**AS ALWAYS, WHILE I DON'T OWN ARC-V I DO HAVE THE RIGHTS TO THIS FIC!**

"And that's why you can't tell Shay about this, okay?" explained Aren. Following their duel, the War Eagle had spent the better part of an hour explaining his and Yuto's predicament to the elder Kastle twin.

"You should have told me and Rio about this right when you two first saw her." said Shark dryly.

"I know that keeping secrets is the last thing I should be doing, especially from my allies while we fight a war, but Yuto and I wanted to confirm a few things before telling you all about this." rationalized Aren. "What if we told you guys that Lulu was in this dimension and Shay went and carded every person in the city to find her? By observing her, Yuto and I have confirmed that she is not Lulu, but we both agreed that this can't be a coincidence. First Yuto and this Yuya guy from this dimension, and now Lulu and this pink-haired girl, two many similarities, and you know how I feel about coincidences."

"I hear you." said Shark, putting his hands in his pants pockets. "I may not like it entirely, I agree. It okay if I fill in Rio though, right? You know how close she and Sayaka were to Lulu."

"Go ahead." said the middle Obsidian dismissively. "Just don't tell Shay until Yuto and I do more scouting."

"What more do you need to scout about her?" questioned Shark. "If you know for sure that she's not Lulu, why bother?"

"I couldn't protect my sister from Duel Academy." said Aren softly. "If Duel Academy invades this dimension like they did Xyz, I want to make sure that she has the allies and skills necessary to keep herself safe from any Fusion freaks."

Shark said nothing for a moment, pondering the War Eagle's words. "Do what you need to do. I'll head back to the hideout. Be back my dusk, I still don't trust this place yet."

"See you tonight then Shark." said Aren, before jumping into the air, climbing up an alley wall and leaping onto a rooftop. Peering out at the midday sun, Aren closed his eyes and took in the salty breeze of the ocean.

* * *

 **[Flashback]**

" _Aren!" cried out Lulu, tears streaming from eyes. Shay stood next to her, his face clenched in worry and frustration. Beneath them, their brother laid on a stretcher in the Resistance hospital, burns covering the majority of the left side of his body._

" _How is he doctor?" asked Shay, tightening his fists._

" _Major burns to about 40% of his body, irreparable damage to his left leg and arm. His left eye has lost complete functionality." said the doctor, running through an assessor checklist. "He will live, but without a leg, arm, and eye."_

" _Oh, big brother!" wailed Lulu, burying her face in Shay's chest. The eldest Obsidian held his sister's head gently, whispering words of encouragement. Suddenly, Shay felt a hand grasp his. Looking down, he gasped at Aren who was partially awake, grinning goofily despite the severity of his injuries._

" _You know, I bet I still look better than you do." joked Aren, coughing violently. Lulu cried in relief, taking her other brother's hand as well. At that moment, the yellow gem in the bracelet on her wrist glowed, and Aren felt much of the pain of his burns alleviate slightly. With some of his agony gone, Aren fell asleep, snoring soundly, much to the humor of his siblings._

 **[End Flashback]**

* * *

"It was that day when we discovered Lulu's bracelet had the ability to heal internal and external pain." murmured Aren to himself. "If her bracelet hadn't done that, even if I still would've survived my injuries, I probably wouldn't have been able to keep on going…I would've drowned in despair."

" _That's why you want to keep spying on that pink-haired girl."_ realized Soarnight Sniper, his spirit appearing next to the War Eagle.

"Lulu was there for me when I needed it the most, but when she was taken, when she needed me the most, I was still stuck on that hospital bed." said Aren. "That's why I will do everything I can to protect this girl from harm."

"That was really nice." said a voice behind Aren. The middle Obsidian turned his head to see that a mostly cloaked Yuto had silently arrived just like the phantom he was. "So, our pink-haired friend is below us?"

"Yeah, she just went in with a friend of hers, some blue-haired kid with a lollipop in his mouth." replied Aren. "I don't know what they are doing, but I thought I heard them mention something about Fusion Summoning."

"Fusion Summoning…then let's investigate, shall we?" said Yuto. The two ducked through the top of the warehouse's doors, which were closed a split second later by the pink-haired girl, stealthily leaping from one wooden crate to another to avoid detection from the two they were observing before arriving in the far corner, where they were hidden enough that they wouldn't be seen, but could easily listen on the conversation the two were having.

"Sora, I need you to teach me how to Fusion Summon!" begged the girl, bowing her head before the smaller boy and clasping her hands together.

"Here?" questioned Sora. "Right now?"

"Yeah." replied the girl.

"I don't know." said Sora slowly.

"I really need help!" pleaded the girl once more, leaning towards the boy, who held his lollipop closer to his face in apparent discomfort. "I need to be a better Duelist!"

"I get it." said Sora, lowering his lollipop. "You're still burning from losing to that Leo Institute girl, right?"

"So, she wants to learn Fusion Summoning because she lost in a duel?" asked Aren, using sign-language instead of actually speaking.

"Looks that way." signed back Yuto.

After a moment, the girl groaned in slight anger. "They cut the duel short yesterday, but I'm worried they'll come back, and if they do I really want to be able to stand up with Yuya, and help him defend the school! That's where you come in!"

"So, she knows your lookalike then…" signed the middle Obsidian to the Phantom Knights duelist. "I guess they go to the same school or something."

"You called me a slimy little weasel, remember?" said Sora plainly.

"Right…" sweat-dropped the girl before bowing again. "It came out wrong! I'm sorry!"

"Hmm…" muttered Sora, turning his head to the right in slight annoyance. "I just don't know…"

Looking up once more, the girl said, "Please, Sora?"

"It's not that I can't teach you, I'm not sure I should, because if I teach you stuff your dueling will improve." said Sora nervously.

"Well yeah, of course. That's kind of the whole point. You teach me, and I get better!" said the girl. "Come on Sora…"

"Fine…" moaned Sora defeatedly. He took a green bordered card from his deck and held it out for the girl. "Okay here, this is Polymerization. This is the end-all-be-all of Fusion: it's pretty much the foundation. It's what you use to combine monsters together." The girl took the Polymerization card from Sora and looked at it carefully. "Got it?"

The girl nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I'm with you! So, the required monsters can either be on the field or in my hand, right?"

"Hand or field, that's right." said Sora. "The important thing is that they're all in one or the other. There _are_ exceptions or course."

The girl nodded once again in confirmation of his teaching. "So, when I activate this, the monsters I'm fusing together go to the Graveyard, then I summon the Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck."

"Yeah, that's-" Sora suddenly cut off and looked directly at where Aren and Yuto were hiding in the shadows. The two Xyz Dimension duelists immediately jumped high into the air at a fast pace, but Sora began running after them, leaping up the crates towards the two.

"Hey, where are you going?" cried out the girl to Sora. Sora didn't respond, but slipped on his Duel Disk, chasing Yuto along the floor while Aren observed the chase from the ceiling. Yuto armed his Duel Disk's purple blade, leaping off the far wall towards Sora, who in turn activated his blue Duel Disk blade. The two collided their disk blades midair, the two struggling to gain an advantage over the other. Just as it looked like Sora might overpower Yuto, Aren sprang into action. Activating his left arm's silver wing-shaped Duel Disk blade, he shot straight down like an arrow. Spinning mid-descent twice, he smashed the flat of his disk's blade directly on Sora's blade, sending the lollipop-eater straight down. Sora hit the ground but quickly recovered, backing away a couple of steps from where Aren and Yuto landed, all three boys having their respective disk blades now fully visible.

"Talk! Who are you two?!" shouted Sora angrily. Neither Yuto nor Aren responded to this outburst.

"You're not from around here, are you?" added Sora slyly.

"Neither are you." said Yuto calmly.

"Hey! I know you two!" shouted the pink-haired girl suddenly.

"You do?" asked Sora in surprise. "So, who are they then?!"

"The one with the black and purple hair dueled Sylvio and beat him!" said Zuzu, pointing at Yuto. "The other one was there too, but he prevented me from intruding on the duel! So, is this latest incident your doing too?"

"Latest incident…what?" questioned Sora.

"Some Leo Institute teacher was attacked." explained Zuzu.

' _Leo Institute teacher…I guess that's Shay's work…so that means the work that the five of us have been doing is attracting more attention then we thought.'_ thought Aren.

"Really, is that so?" pondered Sora. "That would explain why the security at Leo Corp was so tight. Well, you two have got a lot of explaining to do!"

"Instead of explaining, we'll duel instead!" said Aren, raising his fist at Sora. From within his sleeve shot an emerald green rope, which attached itself to Sora's Duel Disk, surprising the Fusion user. After it latched on, the rope disappeared in a shower of sparkles. "Neither one of us can break free from my Duel Anchor until we duel, and a winner is decided."

"Oh, so you want to duel, huh?" said Sora. "Fine by me! Hey Zuzu! Here's your first visual lesson! If you want to learn how to Fusion Summon, watch this duel closely! I be sure to Fusion Summon so that you can get the ropes!"

' _So, her name is Zuzu…then that confirms it…she is not Lulu…but I guess I should've realized this earlier. My little sis would never try to learn how to Fusion Summon.'_ thought Aren, a twinge of bitterness etching itself into its thoughts. _'Guess Lulu must be at Duel Academy like I originally thought. But then why does this girl look like Lulu to a tee? Besides the bubblegum pink hair and the outfit, this Zuzu could be Lulu's identical twin!'_

" _This is rather intriguing isn't it, all these lookalikes from different dimensions…"_ said Soarnight Sniper, his spirit appearing next to Aren. _"But this Sora makes my skin crawl…I get the feeling there's more to him than meets the eye."_

' _That's why I'm dueling him. His athletics, his knowledge of Fusion Summoning…'_ responded Aren mentally. _'He doesn't feel like the other residents of this dimension…and I'm going to find out why…'_

" **DUEL!"** shouted Aren and Sora.

 **AREN LP: 4000**

 **SORA LP: 4000**

"I'll make the first move!" said Sora cheerfully. "I activate the Spell card, Polymerization!" A familiar Spell card materialized before Sora. "What can I do with this card again Zuzu?"

"Fusion Summon!" responded Zuzu, pumping her fists.

"Correct! From my hand I fuse my Fluffal Bear with my Fluffal Sheep!" A spiraling portal appeared behind Sora, in which two of his monsters began rotating into. "Fury of bear and wooled warrior! When the two come together, none is cuddlier! I Fusion Summon!" Sora clasped his hands together above his head, before bringing them down to neck level. A card popped out of his yellow Duel Disk's Extra Deck slot. "Come on out, Fluffal Koala!" A giant sleeping koala with angel wings and a peaceful smile on its face appeared before Sora, yawning contently. **(LV. 6, 2000/1500, LIGHT)**

"How cute!" squealed Zuzu with glee.

"There's more to my koala than just looks! When he is Fusion Summoned, I can hit you with 200 points of damage for every card in your hand!" said Sora, snapping his fingers. "With 5 cards in your hands Mr. Out of Town, you'll take 1000 points of damage!" Fluffal Koala yawned, a bubble escaping its mouth and moving slowly towards Aren.

"When I would be inflicted with effect damage, I can Special Summon this card from my hand!" said Aren, placing a card on his blade. "Enigma Eagle Night Burner, show yourself!" An eagle wearing tattered clothes with wings of fire appeared before Aren, popping the bubble with its beak. **(LV. 3, 500/1500, WIND)**

"Huh?!" said Sora in shock. "What happened?"

"During the turn Nightburner is Special Summoned, I don't take any effect damage." explained Aren. "What's more, I can then draw a card since his ability negated a minimum of 1000 points of damage."

"Humph, pretty good!" admitted Sora. "But I'm not worried. I place two cards facedown, and end my turn! Now let's see what you've got!"

"Oh, I'll show you alright." said Aren, drawing a card and adding it to the five others in his hand. "Since there's a monster with at least 2000 attack points on the field, I can Special Summon these two monsters from my hand! Come forth, Enigma Eagle Thunder Lashers!" Two eagles wielding whips of electricity and wearing gold armor appeared before Aren. **(LV. 3, 800/800, WIND)** "And when a Thunder Lasher is Special Summoned, I get to dish out 300 points of damage! Go Voltage Crackle!" The two whips of the Enigma Eagles lightly struck Sora, pushing back the Fusion user slightly.

 **SORA LP: 4000 – 600 = 3400**

"And next I activate the Field Spell, Land of the Valiant Wings!" said Aren. The Field Spell card appeared above Aren, shining brightly. "With this in play, each time an Extra Deck Monster is summoned, this card gains a Gallantry Counter! Since there was already an Extra Deck monster out when I activated it, I can put one Gallantry Counter on it right away!" **(COUNTERS 0 - 1)**

"A Field Spell that gains counters with an Extra Deck summon…" said Zuzu worriedly. "So, if Sora Fusion Summons again, it'll be helping that Field Spell gain more strength."

"I overlay my level 3 Night Burner and my two Thunder Lashers in order to build the Overlay Network!" said Aren. His three birds transformed into green streams of light, which flew into the Overlay Network portal. "Relentless eagle with continuous shots. Descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon Enigma Eagle Gatling Blaster!" A tiny eaglet adorned in chain-link armor with a large Gatling gun appeared before Aren, eyeing Sora with anger. **(RANK 3, 1850/1000, WIND, ORU: 3)**

"An Xyz Summoner…" muttered Sora, his smirk widening. "This got much more interesting."

"Due to Land of the Valiant Wings' effect, it gains one Gallantry Counter!" said Aren. **(COUNTERS: 1 - 2)** "Next I activate the Spell Card Interdependence!" A spell depicting a mother bird nurturing its baby chicks appeared before Aren. "Since I have an Xyz Monster out on my field, I can Special Summon an Enigma Eagle from my Deck with 500 or fewer attack points! So, I call out Enigma Eagle Flash Chick!" A baby female eagle materialized next to Gatling Blaster, rubbing its tiny head on the larger bird. **(LV. 1, 0/0, WIND)**

"A baby bird…you must be joking." said Sora.

'Oh, he's deadly serious twerp.' thought Yuto.

"I activate Flash Chick's special ability! Since there are more than one Extra Deck monsters on our fields, she can call out a level 1 Enigma Eagle from my hand, so long as I negate its special abilities!" explained Aren. "So, I bring out Enigma Eagle Rabbelrobin!" A tiny half-hatched eaglet/robin hybrid still in its turquoise egg appeared next to Flash Chick, squawking loudly. **(LV. 1, 0/0, WIND)**

"Two level 1 monsters, is he going to Xyz Summon again?" said Zuzu in shock.

"I overlay Rabbelrobin and Flash Chick to build the Overlay Network! Valiant eagle that soars through the sky, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon Enigma Eagle Soarnight Sniper!" Aren's ace materialized next to Gatling Blaster, pointing his sniper rifle right at Sora's Fluffal Koala. **(RANK 1, 500/500, WIND)** "Not only does my Field Spell gain another Gallantry Counter now, Soarnight's special ability grants him 200 attack points for each Overlay Unit he has at the beginning of every turn, so here comes the first power up!" **(Soarnight: 500/500 - 900/900) (COUNTERS: 2 - 3)**

"Only 400 points of power-up?" mocked Sora. "That's not enough to scare me!"

"Not yet it isn't, but once I activate the Spell Featherweight Fall you might get frightened!" said Aren, playing one of the two remaining cards in his hand. "Because of this card, by paying 1000 Life Points I can send one Rank 4 or lower Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster from Extra Deck to the Graveyard, and until the end of this turn, one Enigma Eagle on my field gains half of that monster's attack points until the end of this turn! In addition, if the monster I send is a Rank 4 monster, I get to draw one card from my deck."

 **AREN LP: 4000 – 1000 = 3000**

"That doesn't seem like it's good!" said Zuzu worriedly.

"By sending Rank 4 Enigma Eagle Sky Kunai to the Graveyard, Soarnight Sniper gains half of his 2500 attack points, for a 1250-point boost!" said Aren, sending Sky Kunai to the Graveyard. As he did, his discarded monster's spirit flew into Soarnight Sniper, causing the Obsidian's spirit partner to screech with power. **(Soarnight: 900/900 - 2150/900)** "Next I draw one card since I sent a Rank 4 Enigma Eagle to the Graveyard." Aren took another card from the top of his deck and added it to the one remaining card in his hand.

"All this set up must mean he's planning something big!" said Sora, tightening his stance.

"Soarnight Sniper's effect activates! Once per turn by using one Overlay Unit you take damage equal to half of the combined attack points of all Special Summoned monsters on our fields!" said Aren, one of Soarnight's green Overlay Units disappearing. **(Soarnight ORU: 2 - 1)** "Your Fluffal Koala, my Soarnight, and my Gatling have a total of 6000 attack points, so you'll get slammed with 3000 points of damage! Soarnight strike now with Frontal Arc Phaser!" Soarnight directed his sniper right at Sora's chest and unleashed a colossal linear laser blast at the blue-haired boy.

"Too bad for you! I activate the Continuous Trap Card, Fusion Fortress!" said Sora, one of his face-downs revealing itself. "With a Fusion Monster on my field, I don't take any damage from a card effect!"

' _Well crud, that Trap Card will also block Gatling Blaster special ability.'_ thought Aren.

"Well what do you think Mr. Xyz Summoner? Aren't I good or what?" said Sora, winking in an almost mocking manner.

"I can't blast you with effect damage, so I'll hit you with battle damage instead! Battle Soarnight! Take out Fluffal Koala!" said Aren. Soarnight shot a single bullet from his weapon, easily destroying the Fusion Monster.

 **SORA LP: 3400 – 150 = 3250**

Sora smiled as his monster disintegrated. "I activate my other Trap Card, Fluffal Repair Equipment! This

will bring back my Fluffal Koala and I get to draw a card!" A needle connected to a string dove into the Graveyard hole and pulled out Fluffal Koala, who yawned contently once more. Sora then drew his card and added it to the one in his hand.

"I place one card face-down and end my turn." said Aren. "Featherweight Fall's effect ends and Soarnight's attack points return to normal." **(Soarnight: 2150/900 - 900/900)**

"Tell me Zuzu, am I great or what! This guy could've done huge damage to me, but I limited it to only 750!" said Sora, turning to his bubblegum hair-colored friend.

"Mmm!" cheered Zuzu. "Do your best Sora!"

"I'll do just that!" said Sora, drawing a card.

"With each turn, Soarnight's ability gives it a 200-point boost for each Overlay unit he has!" said Aren, his ace glowing once again. **(Soarnight: 900/900 - 1100/1100)**

"I summon Edge Imp Tomahawk!" said Sora. A demon-esque monster with a body completely made of sharp blades appeared on Sora's field. **(LV. 4, 1800/800, DARK)**

' _Well I guess there goes his cute monsters.'_ thought Aren humorously.

"Edge Imp Tomahawk lets me send Edge Imp monster in my hand to the Graveyard per turn to deal you 800 points of damage!" said Sora, taking one of his two hand cards and placing into the Graveyard slot on his Duel Disk. "I send Edge Imp Razor to the Graveyard! Go Tomahawk!" Tomahawk released several glowing blades which exploded on the ground in front of Aren, kicking up a cloud of dust and forcing the War Eagle to cover his face.

 **AREN LP: 3000 – 800 = 2200**

"When Edge Imp Razor is sent from my hand to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon it to my field, so come on out little guy!" said Sora, another fiendish monster appearing on his field. **(LV. 4, 1300/1000, DARK)**

"Not so fast Sora! Since I took effect damage, I can activate this Trap!" said Aren, his face-down revealing itself. "Plume Aviation! Now listen up because I'll only explain this card's effect once! Since I have a Winged-Beast Xyz monster in my Graveyard, I can place 1 counter on this card for that monster!" A small number "1" appeared on the card. "Then by removing that counter I can summon one Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster from my Graveyard and equip it with this Trap! So, appearing from my Graveyard is Enigma Eagle Sky Kunai!" **(RANK 4, 2500/2000, WIND)**

"Oh boy now he has three burly birds." groaned Zuzu.

"Due to my Trap's effect, if Sky Kunai leaves the field, we both take 1000 points of damage, so I suggest you keep that in mind!" added Aren. "And now since I brought out an Extra Deck monster, the Field Spell, Land of the Valiant Wings' effect activates, gaining another Gallantry Counter!" **(COUNTERS: 3 - 4)**

"Humph! You just set yourself up for failure with that move! I activate my second copy of the Spell Card Polymerization!" said Sora. "With this, I fuse my Fluffal Koala with my Edge Imp Tomahawk! Sleeper of the jungle, master of sharpness! When the two come together, they call the king who is audacious! I Fusion Summon, Frightfur Daredevil!" A truly terrifying monster that looked like a demon-possessed baby doll with black wings and a pitchfork appeared on Sora's field, cackling wildly at Aren. **(LV. 8, 3000/2200, DARK)**

"Way to go Sora! Your monster may be incredibly terrifying, but it's super strong!" cheered Zuzu, a drop of sweat rolling down her face.

"My Field Spell Land of the Valiant Wings gets another Gallantry Counter since you brought out an Extra Deck monster" said Aren. **(COUNTERS 4 - 5)**

"Go Frightfur Daredevil, pounce on Sky Kunai!" ordered Sora. His monster pounced upon Sky Kunai, spearing it with its pitchfork and causing it to dissolve into yellow sparkles. Aren groaned as a heavy wind pushed him back.

 **AREN LP: 2200 – 500 = 1700**

"Now Daredevil's ability activates Since he destroyed a monster in battle, you get slammed with 1000 points of damage! Eat this!" Daredevil slammed Aren with the flat of its pitchfork, sending the War Eagle flying backward.

 **AREN LP: 1700 – 1000 = 700**

 _'Aren!'_ thought Yuto in worry, watching his friend hit the ground.

"Now due to your Trap Card Plume Aviation, we both take 1000 points of damage! But since I have Fusion Fortress still in play, I don't take any damage while you lose the rest of your Life Points!" said Sora with glee. Aren's Trap released a blast of green light which went straight for the War Eagle.

"Ergh, I activate Thunder Lasher's ability from my Graveyard! By banishing it and my other Thunder Lasher from my Graveyard, the effect damage I take drops to 0!" said Aren, a barrier forming around him at the last-second, protecting him from the blast of green light.

"Oh well, that's too bad." said Sora glumly. "But I still have Edge Imp Razor on my field! Attack Gatling Blaster!"

"But Gatling Blaster has more attack points than Razor!" protested Zuzu. "Why do that?!" As she said this, Gatling Blaster reflected the balls, which struck Razor and destroyed it.

 **SORA LP: 3250 – 550 = 2600**

"I did that because when Edge Imp Razor is destroyed in battle, it's special ability can deal out damage equal to half of its attack points!" Razor's spirit appeared on Sora's field, before rushing at and passing through Aren's body. As this happened, the War Eagle felt a sharp pain in stomach, causing him to fall onto the ground almost motionless, his body feebly twitching with agony.

 **AREN LP: 700 – 650 = 50**

"I place one card face-down, and my turn." said Sora, placing a card in his Spell & Trap Zone. "You've got 50 Life Points left and you look ready to keel over. That's what you get for spying on the two of us, but I still want to know why!"

"…You want to know why…" muttered Aren, raising himself up off the ground. "Because there is a mission I'm on that I will complete at any costs…and no matter how many of my morals I must break, I will see it through! It's my turn so I draw!" Eyeing the card he drew, a plan formulated in the War Eagle's mind. As he did, Soarnight's strength increased via his ability. **(Soarnight: 1100/1100 - 1300/1300)**

"First I activate the effect of Featherweight Fall from my Graveyard." said Aren. "By banishing this card, I can take two Enigma Eagle Spell and Trap Cards from my Deck and set them on the field." Two cards popped out of Aren's deck, the Obsidian then playing them face-down. "These cards can't be activated the turn I set them, so you're free from their terror for now. And now for my next move, I banish Enigma Eagle Flash Chick to activate its special ability!" Aren's Level 1 monster spiraled out of existence from the Graveyard. "Now I can Special Summon one Enigma Eagle monster from my Deck, but during the beginning of my next turn, I must destroy it. So, I call out Enigma Eagle Braveheart Curassow!" An eagle adorned with various medals and wielding a shield with a blade sticking out from the bottom appeared next to the War Eagle's other monsters. **(LV. 7, 2600/2000, WIND)** "Braveheart's ability activates! Not only does he get an extra 100 attack points for every Enigma Eagle in my Graveyard, but once per turn I can destroy a number of cards on your field equal to the number of Enigma Eagle monsters in my Graveyard! However, I have to skip my Battle Phase during the turn I use this effect. With two of my feathered friends roosting in my Graveyard, I'll destroy Fusion Fortress and Frightfur Daredevil!" **(Braveheart: 2600/2000 - 2800/2000)**

"I don't think so! I activate the Trap Frightfur Defender!" said Sora, his face-down card flipping up. "Not only does it save Daredevil from destruction, but he gets an extra 800 attack points!" A barrier formed around Daredevil, protecting it from Aren's monster's effect. However Fusion Fortress was destroyed. "And then by banishing Defender from my Graveyard, I take no damage for the rest of the turn!" **(Daredevil: 3000/2200 - 3800/2200)**

"3800 attack points…" muttered Yuto.

"I end my turn now." said Aren. "One turn…one more turn for you to try and finish me off…if you can't, then I guarantee you'll go down after that."

"Ha! Big talk for someone about to lose!" said Sora, drawing a card. As he did, Soarnight powered up once again. **(Soarnight: 1300/1300 - 1500/1500)** "I activate the Equip Spell Frightfur Graft! Now I can Special Summon a Frightfur monster from my Extra Deck and equip it to Daredevil, and until the end of the turn Daredevil gains that monster's attack points! I choose Frightfur Bear, giving my Daredevil an extra 2200 points of fun!" Daredevil cackled as Frightfur Bear appeared behind it, its fabric-like body attaching itself to Daredevil, not only giving the Fiend-type Monster armor in the shape of Bear's body, but Daredevil became surrounded by a blackish-red aura. **(Daredevil: 3800/2200 - 6000/2200)**

"That's a lot of attack points!" cheered Zuzu.

"But now my Field Spell gains one more Gallantry Counter." stated Aren. **(COUNTERS: 5 - 6)**

"Time to put them to good use by winning this duel!" said Sora, smiling brightly. "Daredevil, attack Gatling Blaster and win us this battle!" Daredevil shot itself like an arrow at the Enigma Eagle, its pitchfork straight out in front of its body like a missile.

"I activate the Trap, Gravity Lapse!" said Aren, one of his set cards activating. "Now all monsters on the field lose attack points equal to their defense points!" The War Eagle's Trap shot blasts of energy that hit all four monsters on the field, causing them all to drop slightly. **(Gatling Blaster: 1850/1000 - 850/1000), (Daredevil: 6000/2200 - 3800/2200), (Soarnight: 1500/1500 - 0/1500), (Braveheart: 2800/2000 - 800/2000)**

"That won't matter, my Daredevil can still wipe out your Life Points!" said Sora assuredly.

"I activate my second Trap, Starlight Refraction!" shouted Aren, his second set card showing itself. "Now since the attack points of a monster on my field were altered, I can negate your attack and end the Battle Phase!" A blast of light shot from the Obsidian's card, blasting Daredevil back to Sora's field.

"Ohh!" whined Sora. "I was so close, but that was really good Mr. Xyz Summoner! But I still won't lose! I end my turn, so Frightfur Graft's effect ends, and Frightfur Bear returns to my Extra Deck." ( **Daredevil: 3800/2200 - 1600/2200)**

"I warned you." muttered Aren, causing Sora and Zuzu to stiffen. "I gave you one turn to finish me off and you failed, now feel the wrath of my mighty beasts! I draw!" **(Soarnight: 0/1500 - 200/1700)** A blast of green-colored wind shot from Aren as he drew, pushing against the other three in the warehouse. "Since I have at least 2 Enigma Eagle Xyz monsters on my field, I can activate Feather Reincarnation Ritual! This lets me revive Sky Kunai from my Graveyard with no attack points or special abilities!" Sky Kunai rose once more from Aren's Graveyard, but glowed blue as he powered down completely. **(Sky Kunai: 2500/2000 - 0/2500)**

"What good will that monster do now?" questioned Zuzu. "It's like a bird whose wings have been clipped."

"My Field Spell, Land of the Valiant Wings now gains one more counter since I brought out an Extra Deck monster." stated Aren. **(COUNTERS: 6 - 7)**

"That Field Spell has ben in effect this entire duel," muttered Sora, "but he hasn't done anything with it besides racking up counters…unless!"

"That's been my plan all along! I activate Land of the Valiant Wings' effect! Since it has 7 counters on it, I can destroy it and all the Xyz Monsters on my field to summon an Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster whose Rank is equal to that of the combined Ranks of the destroyed Xyz Monsters!" said Aren.

"No way!" shouted Zuzu and Sora in disbelief.

"The combined Ranks of Soarnight Sniper, Gatling Blaster, and Sky Kunai totals 8, so now I can summon a Rank 8 Xyz Monster from my Extra Deck!" said Aren, taking a card from his Extra Deck. "Valiant bird of predatory power, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon, Enigma Eagle Radiant _Zweihaender!" A massive eagle, armored in armor made of reflective metal and wielding a triple-pronged sword appeared in front of Aren, screeching a bloodcurdling cry._ _ **(**_ **RANK 8, 3400/3000, WIND)**

"What an incredible monster…" breathed Zuzu.

' _That one's new on me.'_ thought Yuto, his eyes widened in awe.

"Due to my Field Spell's final effect, my destroyed Xyz monsters become Radiant Zweihaender's Overlay Units!" said Aren, as three balls of light began cycling around his newest bird. "And now I activate Radiant Zweihaender's special ability! By using one Overlay Unit all cards on your field lose their special abilities and you are prevented from activating any Spells or Traps until your next Standby Phase!" **(Zweihaender ORU: 3 - 2)**

"That's not good!" said Sora, backing away.

"Next, by using one more Overlay Unit I can activate _Zweihaender's other special ability!" said Aren._ **(Zweihaender ORU: 2 - 1)** "By releasing Braveheart Curassow, Zweihaender gains its current attack points until the end of the turn!" Curassow dissolved into yellow sparkles, which were absorbed into Zweihaender's body, causing the Rank 8 monster to gain a yellow aura. **(Zweihaender: 3400/3000 - 4200/3000)**

"4200 attack points!" said Zuzu in shock.

"It's time Zweihaender! Attack Frightfur Daredevil with Eternity Refraction!" roared Aren. Zweihaender's armor sparkled with a thousand colors, the light being given off absorbed into his sword. Zweihaender screeched, and then did a downward slash, releasing a multicolored vertical line of colored energy that instantly tore Frightfur Daredevil to shreds, causing a massive explosion.

Sora screamed as he was flung back into the warehouse's walls, his back smashing into the doors. After a split second, Sora fell to the ground in a heap, his body covered in bruises.

 **SORA LP: 2600 – 2600 = 0**

 **WINNER: AREN**

"Are you okay Sora?" said Zuzu, rushing to her fallen friend. To her surprise, Sora got back up on his feet with no difficulty, but what she didn't see were Sora's eyes, which were filled with rage and directed at Aren, as if he couldn't believe he lost to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but we still need to get these two to talk." said Sora, his rage-filled eyes changing to normal ones.

"How about we start with who you two are?" suggested Zuzu. "Why did you duel Sylvio? What are you up to? What's your problem with Leo Corp?!"

Aren was about to say something when the warehouse doors opened behind them.

"Answer the questions!" shouted a female voice. All of the four looked at the entrance, to see that a teenage girl with dark skin tone, shoulder-length black hair and red eyes, wearing a small blue shirt with her LID badge pinned on it, over top of a cream one-piece long-sleeved shirt and shorts combination, along with black skin-tight shorts underneath ending above the knee, and blue boots had entered, staring at Aren and Yuto intensely.

"Julia!" said Zuzu in shock.

"Who are you two and what did you do to Professor Marco?!" asked Julia angrily, walking into the warehouse.

"This is turning into a real party…" muttered Zuzu apprehensively.

"I'm going to ask you two one last time: where is he?" said Julia aggressively, holding up her dark blue Standard Dimension duel disk and equipping it to her left arm. When Yuto and Aren stayed silent once more, she continued. "Alright, if you don't want to talk, then maybe you want to duel!"

"Hang on a second!" protested Zuzu. "You can't just barge in here and start demanding-"

"Get out the way wannabe!" interrupted Julia angrily.

"Did you just call me a…" started Zuzu before changing her sentence. "Look, you only think they're involved with your missing professor, but you-"

"I'll know if they're involved when we duel, and they start Xyz Summoning!" interrupted Julia once more.

"Xyz Summoning…" breathed Sora. "Oh… _very_ interesting."

' _You know what I think.'_ thought Soarnight to Aren. _'that little twerp must be from the Fusion Dimension.'_

' _Agreed, but we'd be wise not to do or say anything until we're 100% sure, which I'm not.'_ thought back Aren.

"You'll be talking soon enough when I'm through with you two!" said Julia, holding out her left arm and activating her duel disk's orange blade. "Come on let's do this!"

"You're not going to get answers this way!" said Zuzu, walking up to Julia. "You've got to calm down!" Just then, Zuzu's bracelet glowed once more, blinding her, Sora, and Julia. Aren managed to cover his eyes just in time to see Yuto dissolve in a shower of pink light and disappear.

' _That's the same thing that happened before!' thought Aren. 'That glow is just like the one Lulu's bracelet gives off, but while her's attracts Yuto to duel with her, Zuzu's teleports him away! Why is this happening?!'_

As the light faded, Zuzu looked at her bracelet in shock. She, Sora, and Julia gasped as Yuto was now gone, but Aren was still there in as much shock as the two of them!

"Great." muttered Julia. "One of them's gone, but at least there's still one left."

"Zuzu! Are you in there?!" called out a male voice. All four were surprised to see none other than Yuya Sakaki enter the warehouse. "Good, everyone was totally worried, and you weren't answering your phone, and I'm really sorry if I made you feel unappreciated before!"

' _Yuya Sakaki again! Just like before!'_ thought Aren.

"I get it know!" said Julia, looking at Yuya. "You must have teamed up with those two and helped the first one escape! But don't worry, because I'll trounce your pal and make him tell me what I want to know!"

"Is that what you think?" muttered Aren softly, causing Julia to react in shock. Aren played his Spell Shadow Stitch, instantly transporting himself out of the warehouse and away from the four duelists.

As he materialized back in front of the hideout where he and his allies were staying at, Aren began thinking to himself. _'So many questions and so few answers. I get the feeling though that if we manage to get to this Declan Akaba guy, then some of them will finally be answered.'_

* * *

 **{Next Chapter: For Our Tomorrows}**

 **After learning about a skirmish involving Shay, Yuto, Julia, Sora, Yuya, and Zuzu at Paradise Prime Pier, Aren is forced to explain everything he knows to his older brother. Learning this new information, Shay engages in a duel with Julia, who teams up with her friends Dipper and Kit to arrest Shay for his attacks on the Leo Institute staff.**

* * *

 _ **A.N.**_ __**Hope you guys enjoyed this one, and sorry about the wait! As a side note, I'm no longer putting my OC cards' descriptions here at the bottom in order to save me some time and stress. Hope this doesn't bother anyone!**

 **-S4S**


	8. For Our Tomorrows

**I don't own ARC-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

In their subterranean hideout, Aren was currently tinkering with his mechanical arm, trying to find the source of the acrid smoke that was rising from the motor.

"I need to start sleeping with this thing off." murmured Aren to himself annoyed. Over in the opposite corner, the Kastle siblings Rio and Shark were currently covering the noses from the awful fumes, trying to funnel as much of the smoke as possible out of the bunker and above ground.

"Remind me why you decided to fix this thing in here, genius." complained Shark.

"If someone notices the smoke rising from the warehouse they are going to call the police and we'll be busted." added Rio agitatedly.

"We're more likely to be busted because of my brother more than this." retorted Aren. "Wait...is that?" Aren took a screwdriver and began digging at the inner elbow joint, dislodging something stuck inside. "SHARK! HOW DID ONE OF YOUR EARRINGS GET INSIDE MY ARM?!" The middle Obsidian turned to the Kastle brother in a rage, his artificial eye glowing a fiery red.

"My left earring!" shouted Shark in surprise. "I was wondering where it went! How did it get stuck in your arm?!"

"Aren always moves around when he sleeps, remember big brother?" reminded Rio, continuing to funnel the last of the smoke out the room. "You probably put your earrings on the ground when we went to bed last night, and in his sleep he rolled onto it where it got stuck!"

Just as the three Xyz Dimension residents were about to get into a full-blown argument, Yuto jumped down into the hideout with an unconscious Shay slung over his shoulder.

"Yuto! What happened to Shay? Is he alright?" shouted Aren in alarm, jumping over to his friends, and helping the Phantom Knight user get the elder Obsidian off of his shoulder.

"Listen up Aren." said Yuto in a hushed voice. "I give us about five minutes before Shay regains consciousness and when he does he's going to bombard you with a bunch of questions all at once."

"Why?" questioned Rio. "What happened?"

"We just came from the opposite side of the city, where I dueled that loudmouth from LID Sylvio." said Yuto. "And we had quite an adventure over there."

* * *

 **[Flashback]**

 _Yuto was currently walking amongst some shipping crates, looking at the outsides of the to determine if they had any supplies he could swipe for the group. Looking around, he noticed that Shay, who had been behind him a moment prior, was now nowhere to be seen._

" _Shay?" said Yuto in confusion, looking around. "Where did he go?"_

 _The Raidraptor user in question was currently hiding behind some boxes, observing an ongoing argument between a black-haired, dark-skinned girl, a young boy with sky blue hair and sucking on a lollipop, and a girl with bubblegum pink hair held back by two blue circular hair clips._

' _What do we have here…' thought Shay to himself, his eyes narrowing from underneath his sunglasses._

" _I'm going to crush you first, then her!" said the dark-skinned girl, pointing her finger and her blue Standard Dimension Duel Disk at the blue-haired boy._

" _Nah, don't think so Jules." said the blue-haired boy nonchalantly. "After you lose to me, I doubt you'll have the guts to duel her."_

" _I'll show you guts!" raged the girl in response, clenching her fist angrily. "When I'm through you'll wish you never messed with the Leo Institute!"_

" _You're from the Leo Institute?!" said Shay from his hiding place, causing the two girls and one boy to look in his direction. Just as they did so, Shay dashed from his hiding place, elbowing the pink-haired girl out of his way, causing her to cry out and drop her Duel Disk, which spilled out all her cards onto the ground._

 _Facing the Leo Institute girl, Shay revealed his Duel Disk, attached to his left arm. Activating its blue checkmark-shaped blade, he said from underneath his scarf, which was currently covering the bottom half of his face, "If you're one of them, I'll battle you!"_

 _Taking a step forward, the Leo Institute girl began to instinctively step back, a look of fear beginning to take shape on her face. "You...it's you! You must be the one who's attacking everybody!" Shay said nothing in response, but continued to face the girl in a ready position._

" _Let's duel!" said Shay challengingly. "Bring it!"_

 _At that moment, Yuto, who had been watching the proceedings taking place from a rooftop, jumped down, calling out, "Shay, no!" Landing next to the eldest Obsidian child, Yuto grabbed Shay's arm and held it tightly. "This won't solve anything!"_

" _You're wrong!" retorted Shay angrily. "She's with the Leo Institute, Yuto!"_

 _Removing his lower faceguard, Yuto replied, "I told you before. This isn't our battlefield! You have to trust me! This isn't the way to go about this!"_

 _Shaking the Phantom Knight user off of him, Shay lowered his scarf back to its normal position around his neck. "You better believe it's a battlefield! I have to do this to get Lulu back, and if you're going to stand in my way then you're my enemy too!"_

' _Shay…' thought Yuto sadly. 'Have you forgotten your duel with your brother so easily? Has rage clouded your mind so thickly again that you can't tell right from wrong anymore?'_

" _Dipper, he's here!" said the Leo Institute girl, using her Duel Disk as a phone. "Get to building 33 at the harbor, right away!"_

" _Wait!" called out the pink-haired girl, having finally stood up. "How do you know for sure he's the one you've been looking for?" Turning to the girl, Shay felt like the world froze around him, for even if her hair was different, there was no mistaking the girl's face, having seen it so many times growing up with it in his house: it was his sister._

" _Lulu!" called out Shay, his tone softening, but quite full of shock. So many questions were running through his mind at the moment. The girl seemed to recoil slightly at the sudden shift in his demeanor. Taking off his sunglasses, he said, "How did you-? Who helped you-? Did you get away?" Moving towards "Lulu," Yuto suddenly stepped forward and punched Shay right in the stomach, causing the girl and her friend to react with alarm._

 _Slumping over, Shay let out one a pained "Lulu."_

" _Sorry my friend," said Yuto quietly, "it's not her." Finally succumbing to unconsciousness, the Raidraptor user was slung over his friend's shoulder._

" _Get in touch with the Leo Institute!" said the LID girl into her Duel Disk. "Tell them to send every person they can down here immediately!"_

 _Looking at Zuzu's deck still all over the ground, Yuto zeroed in on one card in particular. His mind began filling with anger at the sight of it, having faced so many monsters from Duel Academy brought out by the card in the past. Picking the copy of Polymerization up and looking over his shoulder, he addressed Zuzu directly: "This card...it isn't right for you." His words clearly left the Lulu-clone looking very confused._

" _You have a right to your own opinion," said Sora, whom Yuto turned to see was now leaning against a shipping container smugly, "but I don't like it when a stranger criticizes a card I picked for somebody." Licking his lollipop, he looked at the resident of Heartland with a glint in his eye. "And if you have a problem with my choice of cards I'd be glad to show you how wrong you are and how right I am!"_

" _Sora!" said Zuzu angrily to her friend, as Yuto engaged in a stare down with the boy. "This is ridiculous, stop it! Both of you!"_

" _Julia!" called a voice from nearby. Hearing her name, the LID Fusion user turned to see her two friends along with Yuya Sakaki running towards their group. Just then, the crystal in Zuzu's bracelet released a shining pink light, causing her, Sora, and Yuto to gasp in shock. The last thing Yuto saw was her shocked face before he felt himself and Shay be whisked away. When he opened his eyes, the Phantom Knights user was now standing outside the warehouse hideout._

 **[End Flashback]**

* * *

"When Shay wakes up, he's going to have a lot of questions, and you won't be able to hide the truth from him any longer." said Yuto, helping set Shay down on a pillow.

"I know...my brother is going to be pissed…" muttered Aren.

" _You knew this was bound to happen."_ said Soarnight Sniper, his spirit appearing next to Aren.

' _I know buddy. Time to let the cat out of the bag.'_ thought back Aren, pursing his lips.

A few moments later, Shay groaned and opened his eyes. Surveying his surrounding and realizing where he was, he immediately looked at Yuto, his eyes burning with rage upon remembering what he had done to him at the harbor.

"Why did you punch me?! If that girl wasn't Lulu then who was she?!" shouted Shay, standing up and grabbing his friend by the collar of his shirt.

"Not Lulu." stated Aren, putting a hand on his older brother's shoulder. "Shay, sit down. It's time I tell you everything." Staring at his younger brother angrily for a moment, Shay released Yuto and leaned back against the wall, eyeing his brother.

"From the beginning." said Shay.

"Her name is Zuzu Boyle. She may be an identical clone to our sister, but she is not Lulu." said Aren. "Not only did she not know who Yuto or I were, but she is an aspiring Fusion Summoning learner." At that last remark Shay gasped. "You know as well as I do that Lulu would never use Fusion Summoning and especially not with a smile on her face. There are also obvious differences: the different hair color, the different eye color, the difference in their mannerisms, and the difference in their bracelets. Lulu's had a yellow gem, Zuzu's has a pink one. They may be clones across dimensions, but they are completely different. I didn't tell you about her because I knew you would react exactly the way you did earlier. Rather than saying that Lulu might be here and get your hopes up, I scouted her out to make sure that she was Lulu, and when I determined for sure that she wasn't, I didn't want to mention her at all, out of respect for her safety."

Shay said nothing at Aren's tale, his eyes facing the ground as he processed everything that he had just heard. "I understand."

"Huh?" said the other four at the same time.

"You had sound logic and acted rationally." said Shay. "I may not like it, but you did the right thing. Just don't keep secrets from me in the future, promise?"

"Promise, big bro." replied the War Eagle, patting his older brother on the shoulder. "Now, what do we do moving forward?"

"I have an idea." said Shark. Everyone turned to the elder Kastle twin. "That LID girl that was there with you guys at the pier, Julia was it? What if we go after her? It's clear that she is one of the top students at LID, and no way anyone at that company will let us card any of their students."

"So we lure her out, while also transmitting our location to LID, in order to lure Declan Akaba right to us?" said Rio slowly.

"What makes you think that Julia will come? She would have to be pretty stupid to accept a challenge from the people who have been taking down her teachers suddenly challenge her to a duel?" asked Yuto.

"That's exactly the point. She _would_ have to be pretty stupid to accept a challenge from the people who have been taking down her teachers, but from what I've seen of her she is brash and proud. It's time we capitalize on that." said Aren.

* * *

 **[That Evening]**

" _Shay, we'll be counting on you to duel her. Can you do this?" asked Aren._

" _Oh, don't worry. This will be a walk in the park."_ _replied Shay._

Shay opened his eyes as he finished going over the game plan in his mind. On the roof above him to his right, he could just make out the shadowy figure of his brother hiding in the fading light, his mechanical eye glowing ever so slightly in the dusk.

Turning his eyes back to the street ahead of him, Shay saw Julia approaching cautiously, moving slowly with narrowed eyes.

"You're alone." said Shay, breaking the silence. Julia recoiled slightly at the calmness of his voice. "You should be careful, it's not safe out."

Julia tightened her fists at Shay's subtle threat. "I can take care of myself! It's you who should watch your back! You're the one who attacked Professor Marco, aren't you?! Why don't you just admit it?!"

"Who's Marco?" asked Shay slyly, feigning innocence.

"You know who I'm talking about!" yelled Julia, her tone dripping with accusation. "The Leo Institute professor who teaches in the Fusion Department!"

"Oh, him." said Shay shortly. "Hmph, he was quite the disappointment. I was hoping he'd at least put up a good struggle, but he was pathetic."

"BE QUIET!" screamed Julia fiercely. "Someone as rotten as you doesn't get to talk like that about him!"

"Well he's not alone. Everyone from Leo has been so weak and completely predictable." said Shay, looking away for a moment. "No real passion, no respect for the true art of the duel."

"Are you saying you beat the others too?!" said Julia in disbelief.

"Why not find out…" said Shay softly but menacingly. "Challenge me to a duel, then maybe you'll know if I'm your guy or not!" At that statement, Shay activated his blue Duel Disk blade.

" _Those are some real fighting words."_ said Soarnight Sniper, his spirit appearing next to Aren. " _Let's hope Shay doesn't underestimate this girl and get burned."_

"I wouldn't worry about him buddy." said Aren softly, narrowing his eyes. "It's Julia that better watch out." As he said that, he noticed Yuto appear in the alley below him, having confronted none other than Zuzu, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. ' _I'll ask him about that later.'_

"Guys, I got him." said Julia, bringing her Standard Dimension Duel Disk to her mouth and speaking into it. "Hurry up!"

" _Got it!"_ buzzed a voice in response. " _I'm on my way!"_

" _Be there soon!"_ buzzed a second voice.

"So you called for backup?" questioned Shay. "Only two people though. You must underestimate me."

"You only _heard_ two people, but now everyone at the Leo Institute knows exactly where you are. More importantly they know what you look like. We've got cameras on you right now. Smile, or don't!" taunted Julia. At that statement, Aren noticed a video camera almost right next to him trained directly on Shay. "Either way your little Dueling spree is about to end!"

"That's right!" called a voice. At that second Aren noticed someone leaping down from the rooftop opposite of his own, landing on the right side of Julia. The boy had a slim figure and was quite tall, but what Aren noticed immediately was his flamboyant purple hair that had a gold pin in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation, and his callous blue eyes. He wore a zip-up blue and purple jacket over a white long-sleeved shirt, with white pants, olive-colored shoes, and a loose blue belt. Aren squinted and noticed the LID badge pinned on the right side of his jacket. He also had a strange frame headpiece with a star underneath his hairline. "Came as fast as I could! I hope I didn't miss anything exciting!"

"Let's take this clown down, before the enforcement team arrives!" said a second boy, coming to a screeching halt on the left side of Julia. The boy was quite a bit shorter than Julia, wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt and pants under a tan jacket with an orange interior, with his LID badge pinned on the collar and the sleeves torn off in a strange fashion choice, along with brown socks, and burnt-orange and grey shoes. His spiky brown hair was second in strangeness to a wooden katana that was sheathed over his back. "We'll be known in the whole school as the students who caught the bad guy!"

"I like it." said Julia, impressed. "You in Dipper?" Dipper nodded, smiling kindly.

"We'll use Battle Royal rules!" shouted the second boy, Aren recognizing from the dock as Kit. "Which means the three of us get the chance to take you on!"

"Fine by me." said Shay plainly. "This way I can defeat you all in one duel!"

"LET'S DUEL!" shouted all four Duelists, with the LID trio all activating their Duel Disk blades.

 **SHAY LP: 4000**

 **JULIA LP: 4000**

 **DIPPER LP: 4000**

 **KIT LP: 4000**

"Alright Julia!" shouted Dipper. "Kick this thing off!"

"Happy to!" replied Julia. "First, I'm summoning Gem-Knight Lapis!" A small girl made of rock, with a purple gem embedded in her chest appeared. **(LV. 3; ATK: 1200; DEF: 100; EARTH)** "Then I place one card face-down, and end my turn!"

"It's your go punk!" said Kit, pointing at Shay.

"So it is!" said Shay, drawing a card. "First up, I'm playing a little something to take my game to new heights! Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius!" **(LV. 4; ATK: 1300; DEF: 1600; DARK)**

"Here we go…" muttered Aren.

"But it won't be flying solo." said Shay. "When it's Summoned to my field it can bring a friend: a second Vanishing Lanius!" **(LV. 4; ATK: 1300; DEF: 1600; DARK)** "Next I activate the Continuous Spell, Raidraptor - Nest!" A Spell depicting two glowing white birds flying into the sun above a scrap-metal nest with a single egg appeared before the eldest Obsidian. "Since I have two identical Raidraptors on my field, I can fly a third one from my Deck to my hand!" Shay plucked a card from the middle of his Deck and added it to the three cards in his hand. "But it won't stay there for long! My second Vanishing Lanius's special ability lets me Summon it right away! Looks like there's one for each of you now!" **(LV. 4; ATK: 1300; DEF: 1600; DARK)** With that, two face-downs materialized before Shay, signaling the end of his turn.

"It's my turn!" said Dipper, drawing his card. "I'm going to make some moves that are out of this world! Since I don't have any Monsters on my field and you do, I can Summon Constellar Siat!" A tiny armored child holding a vase above his head appeared on the field. **(LV. 1; ATK: 100; DEF: 600; LIGHT)** "Next, I Summon Constellar Pollux!" A behemoth of an armored knight wielding a splitsword appeared next to Siat. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1700; DEF: 600; LIGHT)**

"What makes it so stellar?" said Dipper almost mockingly. "I'll tell you! When it's Summoned, I can Summon another Constellar Monster from my hand, so come on out Constellar Algiedi!" Another armored knight, wielding a splitspear, appeared on the field. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1600; DEF: 1400; LIGHT)**

"Thanks to its special ability," continued Dipper, "I can Special Summon another Constellar Monster to fight by its side, so say hello to Constellar Kaus!" A centaurine knight wielding a double-curved golden bow appeared next to Algiedi. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1800; DEF: 700; LIGHT)**

"Now I hear that you use Xyz Summoning." said Dipper to Shay, who didn't respond. "Well you should know that I do too, and I don't like how you're running around and giving Xyz Summoning a bad name! When I'm through with you I'll be the top Xyz Summoner in all of LID!"

" _Talk about a superiority complex."_ muttered Soarnight distastefully.

"This guy makes Shark's ego seem normal." commented back Aren.

"Now if you don't mind," said Dipper. "I'll show you how a real duelist uses Xyz Summoning and get ready to find out why I and LID are the best at doing it! I activate Kaus' special ability, which lets it add one level to both it and another Constellar Monster on the field!" Kaus fired an arrow from his bow into the sky which exploded, showering both him and Algiedi and yellow sparkles, causing them to glow. **(Kaus and Algiedi: LV. 4 - 5)**

"Now he had two Level 5 Monsters…" muttered the War Eagle. "So if this guy is an Xyz Summoner like Shay and I, then there's no doubt what he's going to do next."

"Now I overlay Level 5 Constellar Kaus and Constellar Algiedi, in order to build the Overlay Network!" shouted Dipper. Kaus and Algiedi transformed into yellow streams of light, which dove into the center of the spiraling galaxy vortex, which upon their entry released a pillar of blue light high into the sky. "The light of the distant stars shatters the dark of the night! I Xyz Summon Constellar Pleiades!" A massive silver knight wielding a staff/spear hybrid, with a sixth-split cape that displayed an image of a spiraling galaxy. **(RANK 5; ATK: 2500; DEF: 1500; LIGHT)**

"Now, I activate the Spell, Constellar Twinkle!" said Dipper, activating a spell that depicted a sun showering sparkles on a Constellar Monster. "This adds two more levels to Constellar Pollux." As he said this, Pollux became surrounded in a yellow aura. **(Pollux: LV. 4 - 6)** "And then, thanks to his special ability, Constellar Siat gets to change his level to match Pollux's!" Siat threw his jar into the air, which flipped and showered the Light-Attribute Monster with golden sparkles. **(Siat: LV. 1 - 6)** "So now, I overlay Level 6 Pollux and Siat in order to build the Overlay Network!" Just as before, Dipper's Monsters dove into the spiraling galaxy portal which released a second pillar of blue light. "I Xyz Summon, Constellar Ptolemy M7!" Aren's eyes widened as a massive armored mechanical dragon with the same galactic pattern on its wings as on Pleiades' cape. **(RANK 6; ATK: 2700; DEF: 2000; LIGHT)**

"Back to back Xyz Summons! That's showing him what LID can do!" cheered Kit.

"Now I'm going to activate Constellar Pleiades' special ability!" said Dipper, as one of the Overlay Units on his Rank 5 Monster disappeared. "By using one Overlay Unit I can return one of your Vanishing Lanius back to your hand!" One of Shay's Lanius's exploded and reformed as a card in Shay's hand. **(Pleiades ORU: 2 - 1)**

"A bounce effect…" muttered Aren. "Normally that would be trouble for Shay but luckily this guy is an idiot."

"Now I activate Ptolemy M7's special ability, which lets me return another Vanishing Lanius back to your hand!" said Dipper, as an Overlay Unit disappeared from Ptolemy M7. **(Ptolemy M7 ORU: 2 - 1)** Another Vanishing Lanius exploded and reformed in Shay's hand, joining the other one from a moment prior. "With that I end my turn. You're up now Kit!"

"Oh yeah!" said the LID Synchro user. "Leave it to me! I draw!" Drawing his card, Kit grinned. "I'll start by summoning XX-Saber Boggart Knight!" A gremlin-like creature wearing spiked armor and a tattered red cape appeared in front of Kit. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1900; DEF: 1000; EARTH)** "When this card is summoned I get to Special Summon another XX-Saber Monster from my hand, so get set for the Level 1 Tuner Monster X-Saber Palomuro!" A tiny bipedal lizard wielding a tiny sword appeared next to Boggart Knight. **(LV. 1; ATK: 200; DEF: 300; EARTH)**

"So that's a Tuner Monster…" breathed Aren in awe. "I remember Yuto saying that the Synchro Dimension guy he dueled used a couple of those...right before he Synchro Summoned!"

"Now since I've got two X-Saber Monsters on my field, I get to call out XX-Saber Faultroll from my hand!" said Kit, placing a third Monster on his green disk blade. A muscular warrior adorned in futuristic red armor and wielding a massive broadsword thicker than Aren's body appeared next. **(LV. 6; ATK: 2400; DEF: 1800; EARTH)** "You've seen Dipper's Xyz Summon, so now you'll get to see some Synchro power! I tune Level 1 Palomuro with Level 4 Boggart Knight!" Palomuro turned into a single green ball of light which then floated upward and transformed into a spiraling green ring. Boggart Knight flew through the ring and turned into four stars. The stars all united in a singular blue line which doubled in size as the ring crackled with electricity. "I Synchro Summon X-Saber Wayne!" A Monster reminiscent of a cowboy wielding a gun with a blade sticking out of it appeared. **(LV. 4; ATK: 2100; DEF: 400; EARTH)**

"So that's what a Synchro Summon looks like…" remarked Aren. "I've got to say, that may beat out Xyz Summoning looks-wise."

" _And what is that supposed to mean?!"_ questioned Soarnight, huffing.

'Beat it birdbrain.' thought back Aren, his partner's spirit disappearing with a sigh of exasperation.

"Now I get to Summon another X-Saber Monster from my hand thanks to Wayne's special ability!" said Kit excitedly. "So make way for the Level 3 Tuner Monster XX-Saber Fulhelmknight!" A warrior with a red cape and abnormally long blonde hair spinning his sword in a circle appeared. **(LV. 3; ATK: 1300; DEF: 1000; EARTH)** "And thanks to Faultroll's special ability, I can bring back Palomuro from my Graveyard!" The small reptilian Monster appeared one again on Kit's field. **(LV. 1; ATK: 200; DEF: 300; EARTH)**

"Another Tuner Monster?!" said Aren in quiet shock. "How many Synchro Summons is this kid going to do?"

"Now here's where things get _really_ awesome, because now I tune Level 3 Fulhelmknight with Level 6 Faultroll!" Fulhelmknight turned into three green rings as Faultroll turned into six stars while flying through them, which expanded into a stream of blue crackling light. "I Synchro Summon Level 9 XX-Saber Gottoms!" A colossal warrior completely encased in silver appeared, swinging a massive splitsword over his back, an orange aura appearing around him as he did so. **(LV. 9; ATK: 3100; DEF: 2600; EARTH)**

"A Level 9 Synchro Monster...from what I remember Yuto said the Synchro Monster he faced was only Level 7...so I guess Synchro Monsters must go as high as Level 12 like Fusion Monsters do." surmised the War Eagle.

"That's not the end! Now Palomuro tunes X-Saber Wayne, to spawn an unstoppable cyclone of steel!" said Kit as Wayne flew through a single green ring. "I Synchro Summon Level 6 XX-Saber Hyunlei!" An armored woman wearing a headdress outfitted with an eye guard, spinning around and waving a katana appeared, pointing her sword at Shay in an acrobatic manner. **(LV. 6; ATK: 2300; DEF: 1300; EARTH)**

Shay said nothing at the consecutive Extra Deck summons, but one look at his face told Aren that his older brother was incredibly annoyed, even if his face didn't show it.

"Hope you weren't counting on your two face downs, because Hyunlei can destroy up to three Spell and Trap cards on your field!" said Kit. Hyunlei removed three kunai from her cloak and threw them at Shay's field. Raidraptor - Nest and Shay's two face downs: Unicorn Beacon and Raidraptor - Readiness all exploded, being sent to the eldest Obsidian's Graveyard. At that moment Dipper and Kit made eye contact, Dipper nodding in some nonverbal agreement.

"Now I activate Pleiades' special ability! By using the last Overlay Unit your last Vanishing Lanius is sent back to your hand!" said Dipper, as the final Lanius returned to Shay's hand. **(Pleiades ORU: 1 - 0)**

"Great!" exclaimed Julia happily. "Now his field is completely empty!"

"That's right, but let's put the pressure on him even more!" said Kit. "I activate the Spell Gottoms' Second Call, which brings back Faultroll and Wayne from my Graveyard!" The Level 5 Synchro Monster and the Level 6 futuristic Monster appeared, but Aren noticed something different about them. **(Faultroll and Wayne ATK: 0)**

"I guess Kit's Spell zeroes out the summoned Monsters' attack points." said Aren, tapping his finger.

"And thanks to Faultroll I can bring Fulhelmknight back!" said Kit, the Level 3 Tuner appearing once again. **(LV. 3; ATK: 1300; DEF: 1000; EARTH)** "I activate Gottoms' special ability! By sending an X-Saber on my field to the Graveyard, I can force you to discard in your hand! I tribute Faultroll, Wayne, and Fulhelmknight! With all three of these guys going to the Graveyard you'll lose your entire hand!" The three Monsters' essence were absorbed into Gottoms' sword, which was then swung, releasing a shockwave that passed through Shay. The three cards in his hand all glowed purple as the eldest Obsidian discarded the three Vanishing Lanius in his hand. "Perfect! Now your hand and field are both empty!"

Aren narrowed his eyes. ' _Shay already has the setup for victory in his Graveyard...now all he needs is for his Deck to respond to his needs, and there's only one card in Shay's Deck that can do that.'_

"Now remember you guys." said Kit to his two teammates. "The top team members from LID got trashed by this guy."

"I know." replied Dipper. "So if we take him out that means we'll become the best that LID has to offer!"

"Well time's wasting! I'll pass things back to you Julia for the finishing blow! Do what you're best at and pound this punk!" said Kit, ending his turn.

"It would be my pleasure you guys." said Julia, winking at Kit and Dipper. "I'm ending this now! I draw and start by playing Gem-Knight Fusion!" At that final word both Shay and Aren's fists tightened as awful memories began playing in their minds.

"Fusion…" growled Aren, his mechanical eye glowing brightly. What the War Eagle didn't notice in his anger was that the security camera right next to him turned and was now pointed directly at him. The camera remained that way for no longer than 3 seconds before turning back to Shay.

"With this card I can fuse Gem-Knight Lapis and Gem-Knight Lazuli!" said Julia. Lapis clasped hands with an identical rock girl that had a green core, the two swirling into a vortex above Julia. "Two gems shine together, illuminating a new stone! I Fusion Summon, Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!" An adult rock woman wearing a blue-colored cloak with a sapphire brooch in her chest appeared, holding out her hands gracefully. **(LV. 5; ATK: 2400; DEF: 1000; EARTH)**

Shay clenched his teeth at the sight of the Fusion Monster, Aren doing the same from his hiding spot.

"Now here's a move that's a cut above the rest! Since Lazuli went to my Graveyard I can add one Normal Monster from my Graveyard and add it to my hand, so that means Lapis is back for more!" said Julia, grabbing Lapis' card from the Graveyard slot in her Duel Disk. "And that's not all because by banishing one Gem-Knight from my Graveyard I can get back Gem-Knight Fusion! Now I activate Gem-Knight Fusion once again!" At the sight of the card fury burned inside of Aren, almost making him want to jump down and tear the projected image of the card off the field shred by shred.

"I fuse Gem-Knight Alexandrite, Gem-Knight Emerald, and Gem-Knight Lapis! Magical rock of dark and light! Gleaming green knight of good fortune! Lavender gem of wisdom! Combine your brilliance to forge a blinding new brightness! I Fusion Summon the mighty Gem-Knight Master Diamond!" A massive armored figure rose from the earth, its armor and sword both lined with precious stones, but none sparkled as bright as the massive diamond in the knight's chestplate. **(LV. 9; ATK: 2900; DEF: 2500; EARTH)**

"Oh man, I almost feel sorry for this guy!" said Kit mockingly.

"Yeah, because Julia's Fusion Monsters are going to send you packing!" added in Dipper.

"Master Diamond gains an extra 100 attack points for every Gem-Knight Monster in my Graveyard for a total of 300 extra points!" explained Julia as Master Diamond glowed. **(Master Diamond ATK: 2900 - 3200)** "And that's not all because now I activate Lapis Lazuli's effect! By sending a second Lapis Lazuli from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard, **(Master Diamond ATK: 3200 - 3300)** I can hit you with 100 points of damage for each Monster on our side of the field that was brought out from the Extra Deck plus half of Lapis Lazuli's attack points!"

"There are six Extra Deck Monsters on our fields!" said Kit enthusiastically.

"And Lapis Lazuli has 2400 attack points!" chimed in Dipper.

"So you are about to get rocked for some serious damage!" shouted Julia. Lapis Lazuli unleashed a glowing sphere of blue energy that exploded on the ground in front of Shay, kicking up a plume of dirt, forcing the eldest Obsidian to growl angrily as he shook himself off from the impact.

 **SHAY LP: 4000 - 1800 = 2200**

"This move was taught to me Professor Marco!" said Julia, her voice dripping with venom and sadness. "Now I'll use to teach you never to mess with me, my friends, or my school ever again! By banishing a Level 7 or lower Gem-Knight, in this case Lapis Lazuli, from my Graveyard, Master Diamond gains its effect! So now he can use her ability just like before! ( **Master Diamond ATK: 3300 - 3200)** I send my third Lapis Lazuli from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard **(Master Diamond ATK: 3200 - 3300)** , and so now just like before you take 100 damage for each Extra Deck Monster plus half of Master Diamond's attack points!"

' _2250 points of damage, normally that would end things for Shay, but luckily for him…'_ thought Aren nastily.

"I activate a Trap from my Graveyard, Raidraptor - Readiness!" said Shay. "By banishing this card from my Graveyard and reducing my Life Points to just 10, I can block all the damage heading my way!"

 **SHAY LP: 2200 - 2150 = 10**

A shield formed around Shay, completely protecting himself from the blast sent by Master Diamond's sword slash.

"Ugh!" complained Kit. "He blocked the damage!"

"But he's hanging on by a thread!" reassured Dipper. "One attack from Julia is all we need!"

"That _would_ be true if not for the other effect of Raidraptor - Readiness." stated Shay. "I won't be taking anymore damage this turn."

"What?!" said Kit in shock. He and Dipper turned to Julia.

"So even if she does attack then…" started Dipper. Julia clenched her teeth in frustration.

"I can't beat him. I end my turn." said Julia in half defeat.

"It's as I suspected." said Shay. "You three are like lambs trying to fight a lion. There's no iron will of steeled strength in your dueling. You're weak like all the others I crushed."

"Ha!" laughed Dipper. "Big talk for someone so close to defeat!"

"That's right, because they were always forcing us to the brink. Always close to defeat...always close to losing it all…" said Shay. To the three LID students it was incredibly cryptic, but to Aren it was anything but. "In the end we will always push back and it is our enemies who tremble and cower in fear! IT'S MY TURN!" Shay drew his card with such force that all of the birds lining the gutters of the houses flew away in unison, causing shock amongst the three LID students.

' _He drew it.'_ thought Aren.

"I now activate Dimension Xyz!" said Shay, a Spell displaying a dimension structure with green, red, and blue Overlay Units cycling around it. "Since I have less than 1000 Life Points and three copies of the same Monster in the Graveyard, I can use them to Xyz Summon!" Three purple lights shot of Shay's Duel Disk and into an Overlay Portal. "I overlay the three Vanishing Laniuses!" A blue pillar of light, one far higher than either of Dipper's, shot into the sky from the portal. "From the shadows, the falcon soars on wings of courage, talons ready for the rebellion! I Xyz Summon! Witness the ascent of Raidraptor Rise Falcon!" Shay's most trusted mechanical bird soared onto the field, three purple Overlay Units circling around its avian form. **(RANK 4; ATK: 100; DEF: 2000; DARK)**

"Huh?" said Dipper, confused at Rise Falcon's low strength.

"Raidraptor Rise Falcon can attack each of your Monsters once!" said Shay. "Prepare for total destruction!"

"Total destruction?!" scoffed Kit. "That thing doesn't have enough attack points to destroy ANYTHING!"

"I am afraid you are quite mistaken." said Shay simply. "By using one Overlay Unit, Rise Falcon gains the attack points of every Special Summoned Monster on your field!" An Overlay Unit dissolved next to the LID trio's Monsters, causing an aura to form around each of their Extra Deck Monsters. **(Rise Falcon ORU: 3 - 2)** Those auras all shot into Rise Falcon, who grew a fiery coating as it rose high into the sky, embers shooting off of its body. **(Rise Falcon ATK: 100 - 2800 - 5300 - 8600 - 11000 - 14100 - 16400)**

"Is that...I mean...is that a...how can that?!" stammered Dipper, unable to form a sentence at the sight of Rise Falcon's strength.

"No way!" said Julia in horror.

"This is bad!" added Kit.

"And NOW!" shouted Shay, pointing at the LID trio as if death itself. "Raidraptor Rise Falcon will finish you all1! RAVAGING REBELLION!" Rise Falcon flew high into the sky, then struck all six of the LID side's Monsters, severing each of them in two and causing a massive explosion, sending Kit, Dipper and Julia flying into the air before crashing incredibly hard into the pavement.

 **KIT LP: 4000 - 27400 = 0**

 **DIPPER LP: 4000 - 27600 = 0**

 **JULIA LP: 4000 - 27100 = 0**

Shay stared at the three defeated students preparing to card them until he caught Aren's eye. Just as Aren was about to respond, a voice from the end of the street caught Shay's attention.

"We've got you surrounded. There's nowhere to run."

A group of LID staff had gathered around fifty feet from Shay, a man in sunglasses and a black suit leading them. It was clear that the suited man was the one who had issued the threat.

"Run? You don't know me very well." said Shay. "I don't run from hunting dogs. In fact, I was hoping you would show up. Tell me, where's your master?"

"I'm right here." said a new voice. On cue, the LID delegation formed two parallel lines, making a path for an approaching figure.

' _That's him.'_ thought Aren, narrowing his eyes.

The newcomer was a thin young man with pale skin and grey hair, the front layer being a lighter grey than in the back. His hair was arranged in a simple style, flicking upwards at the ends, and his piercing eyes were purple, but partially hidden by his red-framed spectacles. His ears were both pierced with black stud earrings, and he wore a dark-blue sweater, white pants that ended just above his ankles, white shoes without any socks, along with a long red scarf wrapped around his shoulders with the ends trailing to the small of his back.

' _Declan Akaba.'_ thought the Obsidian together.

* * *

 **{Next Chapter: Just Winging It}**

* * *

 **The Resistance's plan to capture Declan Akaba takes a sharp left turn when the son of Leo Akaba reveals a shocking revelation: he's fighting against his father! He's forming a team to take on his father and he wants Shay and Aren in it, but he also wants them to enter the ARC League Championships as LID students to find more potential teammates. Agreeing to his request, Aren faces off against Aiko Sagiri, a Fusion user who uses his monster's to increase his own strength while not caring for their own wellbeing in the First Round. Enraged at his opponent's heartless tactics, Aren makes a vow, and a new power from a lost world emerges...**


	9. Just Winging It

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V, but I DO own this story! Enjoy!**

* * *

"And you are?" questioned Shay to the approaching man, though in his heart he knew exactly who he was speaking to.

"My name is Declan Akaba." said the bespectacled man, adjusting his red glasses. "The current president of the Leo Corporation."

"Declan Akaba…" muttered Shay. Up above, Aren narrowed his eyes at Declan, his face remaining stoic but his insides boiling with a seething rage at the mention of the last name Akaba.

"If I'm not mistaken," said Declan, "your continued attacks upon my LID students and staff here in Paradise City have suggested one thing and one thing only to me: you wanted to meet me...am I wrong?"

"So you're Leo Akaba's son?" said Shay, a callous grin stretching across his face. "I've been waiting for just this moment! Now come at me!" Shay pumped his fist challengingly at Declan. "It's time for us to Duel!"

"Before we jump into things, I have something to ask you." said Declan stately, showing almost no emotion in response to Shay's invitation. "I am curious as to why you've been trying to draw me out."

"I don't need to answer a question from Akaba scum!" retorted Shay.

"If I were to take a guess," continued Declan as if there had been no interruption, "you're most likely trying to rescue your comrades."

Both Shay and Aren reacted in shock at this statement.

' _How did he know?'_ thought Aren in complete awe. ' _None of us have ever revealed our motivations for fighting when we dueled the LID staff, so how could he have possibly guessed what we're trying to do on his very first assumption?'_

"I was told by Julia Krystal that when she first encountered you at the harbor district that you mistook Zuzu Boyle for a girl named Lulu." explained Declan. Instantly Shay flashbacked to the scene that took place a day prior. "It doesn't take a detective to surmise that Lulu is someone very important to you, and that she has been taken by an enemy of yours. Even now, it would seem that she has yet to escape from your enemy's grasp, leading to you taking drastic action in an attempt to get her back. That is why you have been on a personal vendetta, so to speak, against the members of LID."

"You catch on quick." said Shay. "Your father Leo Akaba has Lulu hostage, but she won't be for long because I will save her." Shay pointed at Declan and continued, "In order to do that though, all I need is you!"

"Just as I suspected." replied Declan, placing a hand on his hip. "You wish to use me as a bargaining chip in a hostage exchange with Leo Akaba."

"That's right." confirmed Shay, retracting his arm. "The reason that I have been attacking your precious Leo Institute staff, and the reason I sent you the cards with the souls of your defeated teachers in them was all for this moment! All to draw you out! If I have his son as a hostage, then Leo Akaba can't refuse my demands! You for Lulu!"

"I wonder about that." said Declan, closing his eyes.

"What?" said Shay, taken aback slightly. This statement also surprised the War Eagle. Did Declan know something crucial about his father that the Obsidians did not?

"I find it really difficult to believe that my father cares much about my wellbeing at all." said Declan simply, as if he were talking about the weather to a friend casually.

"What does that supposed to mean?" questioned Shay.

"Pay it no mind." replied Declan, adjusting his glasses once again. "I have no objections if you wish to duel me. However, I do have a request for you...and your friend up on the roof."

"What?!" said Shay, looking directly at Aren, who had frozen in place.

' _How did he know I was up here?'_ thought the middle Obsidian child in confusion. ' _Did the video camera turn to point at me at during the duel when I wasn't aware? Or has he known about me the entire time?'_

" _Aren."_ said Soarnight, appearing next to the War Eagle once again. " _You might as well join the party down there and stop hiding."_ Silently agreeing with his partner, Aren stood up so that he was fully revealed to everyone present below. Making eye contact with Declan, he leapt off of the roof, flipping in his descent, and landed softly on the ground. He turned his head so that his mechanical eye was facing the LID delegation, which caused everyone but Declan and the suited man to gasp in shock.

"You're very perceptive Declan Akaba." said Aren, narrowing his eyes. "Why should we accept a request from the son of the man who has ruined our lives?"

"Because the two of you and myself share a common enemy." said Declan. "Leo Akaba."

"You're fighting your father?" questioned Shay.

"That is correct, and it is for this very reason that I would like for the two of you to agree to my request." spoke Declan. "If you do not agree, then our business here is done." At that statement he and the rest of his cronies all turned to exit the street.

"Wait!" shouted Shay, but Aren reacted faster. Stretching out his mechanical arm, a small burst of energy shot out from his palm, striking the ground directly in front of Declan, who stopped and stared at the smoking patch of dirt with no emotion. The son of Leo Akaba turned around to the Obsidians once more.

"I take it that you are willing to hear my request?" asked Declan calmly.

"What is it that you want?" said Aren, his eyes piercing into Declan like knives.

"I want you to enter the ARC-League Championships." said Declan.

"You want us to enter a Duel Tournament?" said Shay in disbelief.

"Correct. I would like for you, Shay and Aren Obsidian, as well as your friends Rio and Reginald Kastle to enter the Junior Youth Division of the ARC-League Championships as Leo Institute students." announced Declan.

Ignoring the fact that Declan knew their names, the War Eagle said, "Of all the things you could have requested us to do, why participate in a Duel Tournament as LID students? Are we that strong of duelists that you think we can win the tournament and bring glory to your precious school?"

"That is just an added bonus." admitted Declan. "But the real purpose is much more important."

"And entering is the terms on which we can Duel you?" asked Shay suspiciously.

"Correct, and if you happen to beat me, you may do with me as you like." said Declan. "But I don't think you'll want to use me as a bargaining chip after you hear the real purpose of my request."

"So stop beating around the bush and get on with it!" complained Aren. "Why do you want us to enter your silly competition?"

"In this tournament I will be selecting the best duelists to join a strike force...to take on Leo Akaba." said Declan. "My father is my enemy, and I will stop at nothing in order to take him down. It has been made clear to me that the two of you, along with your friends Rio and Reginald, are incredibly capable Duelists, so I would like you to join my strike team, and use this tournament to act as my eyes on the ground...to seek out potential teammates to aid in our fight."

"Teammates...an alliance of Duelists from Standard and Xyz designed to stop the agenda of Leo Akaba." said Aren, piecing together Declan's strategy.

"Exactly." confirmed Declan, smiling slightly. "So, what do you say? Will the two of you and your friends Reginald and Rio accept my invitation?" Aren and Shay said nothing for a moment, turning to face each other. A silent conversation went back and forth between the two brothers, evident to Declan by their facial expressions.

"Alright...we accept." said Aren. "We will enter your tournament."

"Excellent." said Declan. "I will arrange for rooms to be set up inside LID Tower for the two of you and the Kastle siblings. You may stay there and rest until the tournament begins. I should also let you know that among the other Duelists that are competing, there is one who uses the most powerful Fusion Summons I have ever detected, and there will be another Duelist who uses a summoning method unlike anything you've ever seen before. You four will be my eyes and ears on the field. I want you to determine whether they have the skills needed to join my great fight."

"I'll go with you to the tower right now." said Aren. Turning to Shay he whispered, "Tell Rio, Shark, and Yuto the situation. Bring the Kastle's to the tower, but tell Yuto to stay put. We still need some eyes on the street while the four of us are participating."

"Got it, see you in a bit." muttered back Shay. "I'll see you at the tower in an hour." The two brothers then walked in different directions, Shay heading back towards the Resistance hideout, Aren joining Declan and the LID delegation in heading to the Leo Corporation tower.

* * *

 **[At LID Tower]**

"So this is the inside of the Leo Corporation Headquarters." said Aren, whistling at the view from Declan's office. "I like the view. It gives you a strategic viewpoint of the entire city. Eyes and ears everywhere."

"Exactly." confirmed Declan, sitting at his desk chair. "One can never have too many eyes when the lives of others are at risk. I trust you agree with my opinion?" Aren nodded.

"How are you able to rest at night when the possibility that the peace of this dimension and your city could be broken at any moment?" asked Aren.

"I don't sleep that well, to be honest." admitted Declan. "I won't ask you yet what you and your friends have gone through, but I would like to express my condolences. If there is anything I can do to help I promise that I will do so."

"Thank you Declan. That means a lot to me." said Aren. "I think I'm going to go and get some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."

"I'll have Dipper, Kit, and Julia's memories modified so that they believe you and your allies have always been a part of LID. In the meantime why don't you get some rest Aren." said Declan. "You look like you haven't had a good night's sleep in months."

"You have no idea how right you are." replied Aren passively, walking out of Declan's office to join his comrades.

* * *

 **[Two Days Later]**

Aren, Shay, Rio, and Shark all lined up with the rest of the LID participants near the entrance to LID Stadium. They had been called into position by a voice over the loudspeakers, instructing them to organize into lines by school. Aren quickly noticed that of all the schools represented, LID easily had the most participants. Scanning the other people in the room, Aren sweat-dropped at some of the outfits, including one guy in a corny magician's outfit, several boys and girls on roller skates wearing too much makeup, and several people who looked like they were dressed for up a Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, but took a wrong turn and ended up here instead.

"Let's get this over with." said Shark. "The sooner we win this tournament the sooner we can get back to crushing Duel Academy." At that statement, all of the schools started advancing forward towards the stadium entrance.

As they began walking, a new, slightly obtuse voice began speaking over the loudspeaker. "Greetings to all my fellow Dueling fanatics both near and far! The day we've been yearning for has arrived and we've flipped on the on switch for this year's ARC-League Championship! My name's Nico Smiley, and I'm thrilled to be your Opening Ceremony host from coast-to-coast! So, let the ARC-League Championship begin!" The crowd roared its approval, while Aren sighed.

' _Nico Smiley? Really? What parents hated their kid that much to give such an awful name?'_ thought Aren exasperatedly.

"And now let's kick off the ARC-League Championship!" shouted Nico. Aren caught a glimpse of several AR fairies flying around the arena, leaving trails of shining light in their wake. Aren figured that Declan had spared no expenses in making sure that his tournament would be the greatest spectacle of the year. "Daring Duelists will march in by school, so take it away Joy!"

"Thanks Nico!" said a female voice, evidently Jenny, as the first schools began walking in, being lead by an LID employee holding a sign that displayed how many schools had already walked out. "First up, the Leo Institute of Dueling!" The Resistance four, along with Kit, Dipper, Julia, and even Sylvio walked out first, accompanied by all the other LID entrants. "Last year, Leo dominated the Championships by winning all three divisions: Youth, Junior, and Senior! With the largest contingent of Duelists in this year's Championship, they're sure to be the hands-down favorite to make another trophy sweep!"

As they all walked out, Shay and Aren made eye contact with Declan, who was observing the proceedings with a purple-haired woman who must have been his mother, along with a small child wearing a hoodie and holding a small stuffed bear.

"So that's Declan Akaba…" said Rio. "He sure looks like he means business."

"Let's be thankful that he means business for our side, Rio." reassured Aren.

"Our second group is determined to chop their way to victory!" continued Joy. "It's the Bandit Warrior Academy! The most powerful proponents of Martial Arts style of Dueling! Their best student, Iggy Arlo, finished second in the Junior League last year and is now out for revenge!" Rio turned to see what Iggy looked like on the big screen: he had blue eyes, with wild purple hair that reached part of the way down his back. He wore multiple layers on his upper body: a red sleeveless shirt with gold collar and armholes, over a light purple shirt with tattered sleeves. He also wore a green bandanna knotted around his neck, and an orange sash attached to a yellow-lined, maroon section of cloth at the stomach. His arms were mostly bare except for two charcoal-colored arm guards. He also wore dark teal pants, bandages wrapped around his shins, dark tan socks, and curled-toe black shoes.

"Stepping up next," resumed Joy, "a team from far across the sea: the mysterious Knights of the Duel Disk! Behind them, we have another hometown team that I'm sure is ready to take down the competition! Entering the stadium now is the Abracadabra Academy! Famous for their philosophy of dueling by deception, their star pupil is Trick Taggart!" Aren noticed that the screen was now focused on the knights and magician that he had seen before they had walked out.

"Rolling in now are the Dueling Dynamos!" This was the group on roller skates Aren had also noticed. "They are home to some of the most famous singers, dancers and Duelists! Oh! There's Micky Starlett! She looks sweet, but in battle she's ferocious!" The cameras had turn to point at a skinny girl in a lovely pink dress, with large blue eyes and blonde hair, which had pink highlights in the shape of a butterfly strung in. Shark stared at her, and had to admit internally that she was _very_ pretty.

"Walking into the spotlight now are students from that small training facility for Dueltainers, our final group, the You Show Duel School!" said Joy, her tone taking on an excited ring.

"You Show?" said Shark and Rio at once. Aren whipped his head at the newcomers and saw that none of than Zuzu was among the six people entering into the stadium, her friend Sora standing on the opposite side of…

"This crowd has its radar screen turned to You Show's Yuya Sakaki! His Pendulum Summon has become the talk of the Dueling world! I expect we'll see him unleash it early on in this tournament!" said Joy enthusiastically. Aren watched as the Standard Dimension lookalike of Yuto wave nervously to the crowd, his eyes meeting Declan Akaba's in the process.

As the six delegates of You Show joined the rest of the tournament participants in lines facing a podium fifty feet away, Aren continued to study Yuya.

' _I don't get it. Why does he look like Yuto in the first place?'_ thought Aren.

"Greetings Duelists." said a male voice. Aren turned to the podium to see a gray-haired man in a plum suit addressing the people below him. "You have battled hard to be here. The fact that you are here is proof that you are truly among the elite. I know that in the coming days you will face the challenges ahead with distinction and dignity." The audience politely clapped at the man's words. As the man exited the platform, Nico Smiley took his face. Up close Aren had to stop himself from laughing at Nico's circus-like attire and Hitler-esque mustache.

"Now one of our competitors will recite the Duelists' oath." explained Nico, closing his eyes for dramatic effect. "And the honor goes to...You Show Duel School's Yuya Sakaki!"

"Ah!" shouted Yuya in shock, pointing at himself incredulously. "What do you mean me?!"

"Recite the duelists' oath? Do you even know it Yuya?" asked Zuzu concernedly.

"Thanks for picking me but I decline!" said Yuya, holding his hands up.

"Our marshals will now escort Yuya to the podium!" continued Nico. At that statement, two large men in yellow LID jackets lifted Yuya off of the ground by his elbows and shoulders, much to Yuya's displeasure, and promptly tossed him onto the stage like a sack of potatoes, the tomato-haired Duelist landing flat on his face next to the microphone.

"Ha! Way to take the stage!" mocked someone in the crowd.

"He totally ate it!" jeered another one. Aren noticed Nico saying something quietly to Yuya, but he couldn't hear it without the microphone projecting it. Nico backed off and Yuya stood up nervously.

"And now the oath!" said Yuya anxiously, to the applause of the crowd. "Uh...I...Suya Yakaki…" Everyone on the stage floor, minus the Resistance quartet, all collapsed dramatically at Yuya's mistake. "I...promise!"

"Yuya!" shouted Zuzu. "Stop freaking out! Say it in your own way!" Yuya stopped his nervous stammering, staring at the crowd for a moment and grabbing the pendant around his neck. Aren wondered if he was thinking of something that would help him speak clearly.

"Greetings fellow Dueling fans!" said Yuya happily, spreading his arms out wide. "I was asked to come here and recite the Duelist oath, but since most of us know it by heart, I've decided instead to tell you something you _don't_ know! The story of why I'm here today! You probably know by now that I'm the son of Yusho Sakaki! He was one of the most popular Dueltainers to ever step into a stadium, and definitely one of the greatest! Then one day he shocked everybody when he disappeared just before a big duel. Some kids used to tease me by saying I was a coward like my father, so I worked hard to prove them wrong, but I still couldn't face my problems. Until, one day I learned how to Pendulum Summon! Sure, my duels were more difficult, but I was having fun again! I still have a lot to learn, and have a long journey ahead of me, but I'll never forget to have fun along the way! Because that's what we all love about Dueling and that's why we're all here! Someday, I'm going to be a great Dueltainer like my dad was! I promise that I'll never stop trying to improve my skills! That I'll always duel fairly, and that I'll always do everything I can to help others love Action Dueling just as much as we do!"

For a moment no one clapped, but then Declan Akaba started to do so, and slowly but surely, the crowd erupted into fearsome cheers, some even giving him a standing ovation. Rio clapped happily, while Aren smiled softly and clapped lightly. Much to the War Eagle's displeasure, however, neither Shark or Shay seemed touched by Yuya's words, instead staring at the Standard Dimension Duelist passively, not clapping at all.

"Is he great or what?!" said Nico as Yuya rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "That was even better than the official Duelist's oath! Take a boy kiddo you're a hit!" Yuya did just that, exiting the podium and rejoining his classmates from You Show on the stadium floor. For a brief moment, Yuya made eye contact with Aren, catching the Sakaki teen off guard by the odd look Aren was now giving him.

' _I just realized something, Soarnight.'_ thought Aren to his partner, who appeared at that exact moment.

" _And what would that be?"_ questioned the ace of the War Eagle.

' _Yuya is a lot like how Yuto used to be. Before the invasion, Yuto was always smiling, always making others happy with his Dueling.'_ thought back Aren. ' _If Duel Academy had never invaded, I would think that Yuto and Yuya are twins in not only their looks, but their personalities as well.'_

"It's now time for our Duelists to learn who they will be facing in their first matches!" shouted Nico. "Okay wannabe champions, time to slot your competition data cards into your Duel Disks!" Aren held up the white card that he was given by the LID staff. He slotted his Xyz Dimension Duel Disk over his sleeve-covered mechanical arm, as he and Declan agreed that both his prosthetic eye and arm would attract to much attention. "I'm no tech expert, but I'm told that some gizmo sends out info packets to each of these cards, to tell each Duelist their opponent! We'll use these cards to keep track of winners and losers, then tally those results to calculate the next matchups!

Each of the Resistance members put their respective cards into the Spell and Trap card slot on their Xyz Dimension Duel Disks, and on each screen showed their faces, then a versus symbol, then followed by the face of their opponent and a small name underneath.

"I'm facing someone named Trout." said Shark, staring at a picture of a fisherman in fishing gear. "My duel is in two days from now."

"I'm up against some girl named Olga from the LID Arctic campus." said Rio, looking at a picture of a blonde-haired girl in a burka. "My duel is tomorrow evening."

"My opponent is someone named Aiko from the Dueling Dynamos." added Aren, looking at an image of a haughty-looking boy in a cerulean dancing outfit. "My match is this afternoon. What about you Shay?"

The eldest Obsidian was studying the image of his opponent. "Sora Perse...from You Show...tomorrow midday...got it."

"You're going up against Sora?" asked Aren in surprise. He thought back to what Declan said about an entrant that used the most powerful Fusion Summon he had ever seen, and then flashbacked to his duel against the lollipop licker a week prior. "Shay...this kid might be the one Declan talked about. I dueled him a week ago and he had some ridiculously powerful Fusion Summons, and when I beat him he was all upset that he lost to an Xyz Summoner...I think this kid is from Duel Academy!"

"If that's true," stated Shay, his eyes narrowing in fury, "he will be shown no mercy for his crimes."

* * *

 **[Time Skip]**

Aren spent the next couple of hours walking through the festivities, watching some of the Duels that took place. He watched as the little kid that was sitting with Declan beat a young girl named Ally from You Show, he also smiled as Zuzu Boyle came from behind to beat Julia Krystal, though his fists clenched when Zuzu summoned two Fusion Monsters: Schuberta the Melodious Maestra, and Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir.

Just as he was about to find Rio and Shark, the War Eagle heard his name, as well as his opponent's, called over the loudspeakers for a 5-minute warning for their Duel. Aren raced back to the main stadium, where he checked in with an LID staff member, and entered the field.

"The sixth match in the Junior Division is between the Dueling Dynamos' Aiko Sagiri, and the Leo Institute's Aren Obsidian!" announced Nico. The crowd cheered wildly for Aiko as he entered, waving to his female supporters, while everyone clapped nervously as Aren entered, slightly intimidated by his tattered clothes and red full-head bandana. "Time for our ARC System to pick an Action Field!" Up above, a spinning image of a card within a transparent blue sphere was displayed, before settling on a Field Spell that depicted a ruined city. "Our Action Field for this Duel will be Downtown Dystopia!"

A large machine beneath the stadium floor revealed itself, winding up and releasing several streams of light. All around the War Eagle rose a city that looked like it been blown away by a bomb, buildings partially collapsed and smoke filling the air. Aren's eyes narrowed at the scene: no doubt this field was selected by Declan Akaba to remind him of Heartland.

"Alright competitors, start your Duel Disks!" shouted Nico. Aren activated his Duel Disk's red blade, while Aiko activated his orange one. "Now, let's get going!"

" **LET'S DUEL!"** shouted Aiko and Aren.

 **AREN LP: 4000**

 **AIKO LP: 4000**

"I'll get things started!" said the middle Obsidian child. "I Summon Enigma Eagle Sly Starling!" A small bipedal eaglet with a wing covering half of its face appeared on the fielding, a slight grin on its starling-esque face. **(LV. 1; ATK: 600; DEF: 0; WIND)**

"Aww, it's so cute!" squealed some girls in the stands, much to the War Eagle's annoyance.

"Now since I have exactly one Enigma Eagle on my field, I can Special Summon Enigma Eagle Wavering Warbler from my hand!" continued Aren. A twitching eagle/warbler warrior hybrid appeared next to Sly Starling, its body phasing in and out of transparency. **(LV. 4; ATK: 1500; DEF: 900; WIND)** "Due to his effect, Wavering Warbler's level now changes to match that of the Enigma Eagle that was present on the field when he was Summoned, so now he becomes level one!" **(Wavering Warbler LV: 4 - 1)**

"Why don't you Summon a chicken next, to match your birdbrain personality?!" mocked Aiko, attracting the laughter of several members of the crowd.

"At least I don't wear dancing tights." said Aren in response. "I activate the Spell, Enigma Match!" A Spell depicting two Enigma Eagles playing a card game appeared next to the War Eagle. "Since I have two different Enigma Eagles on my field with the same level, I can draw two cards!" Aren added two cards from his deck to the two cards in his hand.

Up in the stands, Shay, Rio, and Shark observed the Duel from the shadows, while on the opposite side of the field, Yuya, Zuzu, and Sora watched closely.

"Since I added this card to my hand outside of the Draw Phase, I can Special Summon it!" said Aren, holding up one of the cards he had just drawn. "Appear, Enigma Eagle Oddball Ostrich!" A tall ostrich-like eagle appeared on the field, surveying the surroundings with unpredictable head movements. **(LV. 1; ATK: 0; DEF: 0; WIND)**

"Three Level one Monsters…" said Yuya slowly, eyeing Aren's field. "If this guy is related to Shay Obsidian…"

"Then he's going to Xyz Summon!" said Zuzu and Yuya together.

"I overlay Level 1 Sly Starling, Wavering Warbler, and Oddball Ostrich!" shouted Aren. "With these three Monsters, I build the Overlay Network!" All three of the War Eagle's Monsters turned into green streams of light which flew into the galactic portal hanging in the sky, which unleashed a blast of blue light. "Valiant eagle that soars through the sky, descend upon this battlefield and strike down those who oppress us! I Xyz Summon!" Aren slammed a black-bordered card down onto his duel disk. "Appear, Enigma Eagle - Soarnight Sniper!" The ace Monster of the middle Obsidian child appeared on the field, spinning his sniper rifle overhead. **(RANK 1; ATK: 500; DEF: 500; ORU: 3; WIND)**

"Whoa! What a Monster!" said Nico in awe. "Aren's first few Monsters may have been featherweights, but this looks like one bad bird!"

"Due to Soarnight's effect, with each turn that passes, he gets an extra 200 attack and defense points for each Overlay Unit he has!" said the War Eagle. "Since he's got three right now, he gets a 600 point powerup!" **(Soarnight ATK: 500 + 600 = 1100; DEF: 500 -+ 600 = 1100)**

"That's one slick ability!" praised Dipper, who like Declan had promised, had his memories altered like his two friends. "So the longer Soarnight is in play, the more powerful it gets!"

"Kind of puts your Xyz Monsters to shame." Said Julia snidely, causing Kit to laugh.

"I now activate the Equip Spell, Wing Harrier!" said Aren, activating another Spell. Soarnight's metallic wings suddenly doubled in length and gained a green sheen to them. "Not only does Soarnight gain 600 extra attack points, but he also can't be destroyed by battle! I end my turn by placing one card face down! Time to see what you've got Aiko!" **(Soarnight ATK: 1100 + 600 = 1700)**

"With pleasure!" said Aiko, drawing a card.

"With the start of a new turn, Soarnight's ability activates once more, giving him 200 attack and defense points per Overlay Unit!" said Aren, stretching out his arm. **(Soarnight ATK: 1700 + 600 = 2300; DEF: 1100 + 600 = 1700)**

"I activate the Spell Card, Polymerization!" said Aiko. A card depicted two monsters swirling around a spiral multicolored portal appeared.

"Polymerization!" shouted Rio.

"Then this guy's a Fusion user!" said Shark angrily. "Now Aren better win!"

"From my hand I fuse Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1 with Fairy Dragon!" said Aiko, holding two cards from his hands up. Two spectral images of a fanged blue dragon and a slender, serpentine green dragon appeared above the representative of the Dueling Dynamos. "Grand dragons of an elder age, unite to form a great conduit of power! I Fusion Kaiser Dragon!" A yellow skeletal dragon with sun-colored wings appeared, roaring at Aren and Soarnight. **(LV. 7; ATK: 2300; DEF: 2000; LIGHT)**

"Oh my! Aiko has played Kaiser Dragon, a card not seen much these days!" said an impressed Nico. "But then again all of the Dueling Dynamos love to use long forgotten cards, so it should be no surprise at all I suppose!"

"That's only the beginning of the awesomeness! I activate the Continuous Spell, Lumification of the Extra Forces!" said Aiko, a Spell depicted two armies facing off, their reinforcements arriving to aid them. "With this, since I have Dragon-type Fusion Monster on my field, I can banish the top Monster card in my Deck and gain Life Points equal to its level times 100!" The card third from the top in Aiko's Deck slot out and Aiko grabbed it and smiled. "I drew Alexandrite Dragon, which is Level 4, so I gain 400 Life Points!" Aiko put Alexandrite Dragon in to the Banish slot, but as he did Aren heard a distant roar of sadness from the Dueling Dynamos' Duel Disk.

 **AIKO LP: 4000 + 400 = 4400**

"Next up I play the Continuous Spell, Soul Absorption!" said Aiko, a third Spell appearing in front of him. This one depicted several blue spirits flying into a emaciated zombie. "Now everytime a card is banished, I gain 500 Life points!" Aiko's body glowed blue as his card's effect activated.

 **AIKO LP: 4400 + 500 = 4900**

"A Life Point recovery Deck…" muttered Aren, still a little rattled by the roar he had heard. "This is going to be an annoying duel."

"Next I activate the Spell, Dragon Banish Bridge!" said Aiko, activating a Spell that showcased a line of chained dragons walking down a bridge to a dark cave. "With it, I can banish one Level 4 or lower Dragon-type Monster from my Deck to Special Summon a Level 7 or lower Dragon-type Monster from my Deck with greater attack points but fewer defense points, by negating its effects! So I banish Luster Dragon to Special Summon Luster Dragon #3!" Again, Aren heard a faint roar emanate from Aiko's deck as Luster Dragon was put into the Banish Zone, but this roar was overpowered by the large roar that Luster Dragon #3 unleashed upon its appearance! **(LV. 7; ATK: 2700; DEF: 1100; LIGHT)** As this happened, Soul Absorption showered Aiko in a second blue aura.

 **AIKO LP: 4900 + 500 = 5400**

"With several clever moves, Aiko has now gained a 1400 Life Point advantage over Aren, but will this buffer be enough to withstand the incoming onslaught?" said Nico dramatically, getting several cheers from the audience.

"I'm not sure I like how this Aiko guy duels." commented Zuzu.

"Yeah, he's just tossing away several of his Monsters to make himself stronger." added Sora, biting down on his lollipop.

"He doesn't seem like he has any respect for his Monsters either." chimed in Yuya. "Do you see what I see? Those two dragons don't look very happy to be battling right now." Zuzu and Sora gasped in agreement. The two Monsters on Aiko's field looked ferocious, but they could sense a deep sadness emanated from them, which should have been impossible for corporeal holograms.

"Time to attack!" said Aiko snidely. "Luster Dragon #3, attack Enigma Eagle Soarnight Sniper! Go Emerald Rush!" Luster Dragon #3's head turned to pure emerald as the winged-beast flew into the sky before headbutting Soarnight.

"Due to Wing Harrier's effect, Soarnight can't be destroyed by battle!" said Aren, digging his feet into the scorched ground as wind blew into his face.

"But you'll still take damage!" taunted Aiko, as a red aura enshrouded Aren.

 **AREN LP: 4000 - 100 = 3900**

"Now Kaiser Dragon, attack Soarnight Sniper!" continued Aiko, his second dragon flying into the sky.

"But Kaiser Dragon has the same number of attack points as Soarnight Sniper!" questioned Nico. "With Wing Harrier still in play, Soarnight will survive but Kaiser Dragon won't! What could Aiko be thinking?!"

"I show you!" replied Aiko. "Since my Dragon-type Monster is waging an attack on your monster, by banishing Dragon Banish Bridge from my Graveyard, I can halve the attack strength of your Soarnight Sniper!" As Aiko's Spell was sent to his Banish Zone, a green line of energy struck Soarnight in the wing, causing him to fall closer to the ground. **(Soarnight Sniper ATK: 2300 - 1150)** Kaiser Dragon smashed into Soarnight, but Wing Harrier formed a barrier around the Enigma Eagle, saving it from harm, but not preventing Aren from skidding along the ground for ten feet.

 **AREN LP: 3900 - 1150 = 2750**

"I end my turn!" said Aiko smugly. "And since another card was banished, Soul Absorption effect gives me 500 more Life Points, making me even stronger! Yeah!"

 **AIKO LP: 5400 + 500 = 5900**

"Only two turns in an Aiko has soared to a commanding lead! Aren's next turn is crucial, but does he have what it takes to give his aerial game an updraft?" commentated Nico.

"I'm up, so I draw!" said Aren, raising an eyebrow at the card he had drawn. "Due to Soarnight's special ability, he gets 600 extra attack and defense points once again, since he has three Overlay Units!" **(Soarnight ATK: 1150 + 600 = 1750; DEF: 1700 + 600 = 2300)**

"You can activate that ability as many times as you like, it won't help your birdie surpass my dragons' attack points!" boasted Aiko.

"I don't need to surpass your attack strength if Soarnight's effects can end you right here!' retorted Aren. "By using one Overlay Unit, Soarnight takes half of the combined attack points of all Special Summoned Monsters on our fields, and deals you that amount as damage!"

"What?!" shouted Aiko in shock.

"Half of the attack points of the three monsters on our fields is 6750!" said Aren, doing quick math in his head. "Soarnight, rain down the pain! Go Frontal Arc Phaser!" Soarnight directed the barrel of his sniper rifle at Aiko's chest, and from his blaster unleashed a linear torrent of green energy.

"Not so fast! I activate Luster Dragon #3's effect!" countered Aiko. "As long as I have two Dragon-type Monsters on my field, I can reduce any effect damage by their total attack points!" A hexagonal barrier formed from Luster Dragon #3's mouth, which protected Aiko from most of the blast, but embers of the energy attack still showered upon the Dueling Dynamo.

"Since his two dragons have 5000 attack points between them, Aiko only takes 1750 damage from Aren's vicious assault!" explained Nico to the audience, who roared its approval of Aiko's defensive move.

 **AIKO LP: 5900 - 1750 = 4150**

"Shoot." growled Aren, grinding his teeth. "My turn isn't done yet! I activate the Trap, Enigma Wedge!" A trap depicting a wedge being driven by an Enigma Eagle into the back of a serpentine Monster appeared next to the middle Obsidian. "With this, by using all of the Overlay Units on an Enigma Eagle Xyz Monster I control, I can draw cards equal to that number of Overlay Units! So by using Soarnight's two remaining Overlay Units, I draw two cards!" Both of Soarnight's Overlay Units vanished as Aren picked up two more cards from his deck. **(Soarnight ORU: 2 - 2 = 0)**

"Well this is a bold strategy…" whistled Rio. "Aren normally conserves his Overlay Units but he threw both of them out here."

"I wonder if Aren had a shift in strategy." pondered Shay.

"Now I activate the Trap, Fiend Flash Frenzy!" said Aren, flipping over his second facedown. "With this, since I have an Xyz Monster with no Overlay Units on my field, and you control more Monsters than I do, all Monsters on your field lose half of their attack points and their effects are negated!" Two streams of gray light engulfed Luster Dragon #3 and Kaiser Dragon, causing them to droop slightly. **(Luster Dragon #3 ATK: 2700/2 = 1350; Kaiser Dragon ATK: 2300/2 = 1150)**

"Aren is making the most out of this turn, dealing damage, reducing his opponent's Monsters' attack points, and negating their special abilities! Does Aiko have an answer?" questioned Nico dramatically.

"I end my turn by placing one card facedown." concluded Aren, a new card materializing on his field.

"Then I'm up! I draw!" said Aiko, drawing a card. Grinning at it, he looked at Aren savagely. "This duel has been a total waste of my time! You're so weak-hearted that I'm going to be sick!"

"Call me what you want, but at least I treat my Monsters better than you do." replied Aren emotionlessly.

"Treatment of Monsters? Ha! You must be joking!" laughed Aiko. "These aren't real! They don't have feelings! All Monsters are good for are for making the Duelist who uses them stronger!" Aren clenched his fist as hard as he could, but kept his mouth shut. "I activate Dragon Alchemist Fusion! With this, I can Fusion Summon a Dragon-type Fusion Monster by banishing Monsters from my field! I fuse Kaiser Dragon and Luster Dragon #3!"

"Oh my! Another Fusion Summon! What in the world will Aiko Summon this time?!" shouted Nico.

"I don't think I want to know." muttered Yuya apprehensively.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be really strong, I just know it." added in Sora.

"Dragon servants of wondrous light! Meld your minds to summon a great new power!" chanted Aiko. "I Fusion Summon Grand Solar Dragon!" A massive dragon with wings as bright as the sun appeared, with white-hot embers emanating from the line of fire that ran down its body. **(LV. 10; ATK: 3200; DEF: 2500; FIRE)**

"That's quite the beast." said Aren, but in his mind he was shaking with rage, not only at Aiko's words, but from the growls of pain and sadness that he could hear from the dragons in Aiko's Banish Zone.

"Since two more dragons were banished, Soul Absorption effect gives me 1000 more Life Points!" said Aiko haughtily, laughing as his Spell gave him more energy.

 **AIKO LP: 4150 + 500 + 500 = 5150**

"So much for reducing his Life Points…" growled the War Eagle softly.

"I activate Grand Solar Dragon's effect!" announced Aiko. "With it, I can destroy all Monsters on your field whose Levels are less than Grand Solar Dragon's, and for each Monster destroyed by this effect, one Spell or Trap card on your is destroyed, even if it's facedown! So go Grand Solar Dragon! Wipe out that feather duster!" A stream of blue fire rained down on Soarnight Sniper, causing the trusted partner of the middle Obsidian child to explode in a shower of yellow sparkles. As this happened, a stream of fire erupted underneath Aren's facedown, causing it to dissolve as well.

"Aren has no cards left on his field!" realized Rio in horror.

"Not good!" shouted Shark. "Aren, do something!"

"Either one of his Graveyard cards or one of those two cards in his hand better have a defense effect!" added Rio.

"Grand Solar Dragon, end this duel! Attack Aren directly with Malicious Magma Meltdown!" cackled Aiko. Grand Solar Dragon unleashed a geyser of lava from its mouth, which prepared to swamp over the War Eagle.

"I activate the effect of the Trap Card you just sent to the Graveyard, Xyz Bypass!" said Aren, shielding his face from the heat of the incoming blast. "When this Set card is sent from field to the Graveyard, I can return one Xyz Monster from my Graveyard to my Extra Deck, and reducing the damage from a Direct Attack by that Monster's attack points! I return Soarnight Sniper to my Extra Deck to reduce the damage I take by 500!" A blast of water erupted from the ground, intercepting the lava flow, causing it to steam out, but chunks of flaming rock barraged the War Eagle, causing him to scream as his skin was burned.

 **AREN LP: 2750 - 2700 = 50**

Everyone in the audience gasped as the Action Field turned into a field of fire. The lava attack had burned away most of the field, leaving nothing but an acrid, smoky patch of earth, with the only intact area being the area directly around Aiko's field.

"Unbelievable! Aiko has burned away most of this field, along with all but 50 of Aren's Life Points! Can Aren recover from-" Nico stopped mid-sentence as he, along with everyone else in the audience, gasped in unison, for Aren's jacket and bandana had both been burned away, revealing what the War Eagle had been hiding.

"What...happened to him?!" screamed Zuzu in horror. Everyone around her, Yuya included, was reacting similarly, for the sight of the metal prosthetic arm fused to Aren's skin was certainly horrifying to bear eyes upon, but the glowing of the red light in his mechanical eye was even more terrifying, giving the War Eagle the appearance of a demon in the midst of Hell.

"You're the worst kind of person." muttered Aren threateningly. "You treat your Monsters like trash, like they are nothing in comparison to you. Well you can't hear their screams when you banish them...but _I_ _can..._ they roar for judgment to be brought upon you for hurting them...for using their strength to make yourself more powerful."

"Whoa…" squealed Aiko. "Calm down!"

"I won't calm down." said Aren in an eerily, and ironically, calm voice. "As long as I live, I won't stand by as people like you use Duel Monsters to oppress others...to gain dominion over other people and further your selfish agenda...whether they be from here or elsewhere…"

"What's this guy talking about?!" said Yuya concernedly. "He's lost his mind!" Sora said nothing, but narrowed his eyes at the War Eagle, a burning hatred rising within him, for other than the three Resistance fighters in the stands, Yuto watching from a street corner, and Declan Akaba and those closest to him, only he understood what Aren was truly referring to.

' _You think you stand on the moral high ground, don't you Aren?'_ seethed Sora internally. ' _Well, you won't be standing for long, not after Duel Academy is finished with you Xyz-ians!'_

"I will thoroughly kick your ass!" shouted Aren enragedly, tossing aside his Xyz Dimension Duel Disk and activating the silver wing-shaped Duel Disk blade on his mechanical arm. All of a sudden, his Deck began glowing a blue color, as did the non-mechanical hand of the War Eagle. "My body is living proof that those like you, evil Fusion Summoners, deserve no mercy, and NONE WILL BE SHOWN! I DRAW!" A stream of blue light trailed from the card Aren drew, blinding everyone in the stadium with a tremendous brightness.

Aren blinked, and all of sudden the environment around him had changed. Suddenly he was floating in the middle of a field of clouds, with only him in it.

"Where am I?" said Aren, looking all around him. As he turned around, he gasped in shock, for it turned out he was not alone. Peering down at him was a quadrupedal figure enshrouded by the clouds, a faint outline visible through the white vapor. "What...are you?"

"I AM THE ONE BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE FROM THE CHAOS OF CREATION.' boomed a deep resounding, yet comforting voice in response, the sound reverberating through every cell in the War Eagle's body. "I AM A SWORD...AND A SHIELD. A FIGHTER...AND A PROTECTOR…"

"Are you a Duel Monster?" questioned Aren.

"I AM...AND YET I AM MORE." responded the creature, the cryptic response confusing the middle Obsidian child. "YOUR WORDS...I HAVE HEARD THEM FROM THIS DISTANT PLANE OF EXISTENCE...I HAVE NOT HEARD WORDS OF SUCH CONVICTION IN MANY YEARS…"

"My words…" pondered Aren. "You mean what I said to Aiko about his treatment of his Duel Monsters?"

"CORRECT." echoed the voice. "I HAD NEARLY GIVEN UP HOPE IN YOUR KIND...BUT I SEE NOW THAT YOU ARE ONE OF A KIND."

"Um, thank you." stammered Aren, words struggling to find him.

"I SEE NOW I HAVE FINALLY FOUND ONE WHOM I MAY ALLY MYSELF WITH." blared the voice. "AN ALLY THAT WILL HELP ME TO SAVE THE FOUR DIMENSIONS."

"You mean me?" said Aren. "You've chosen me?"

"I HAVE." confirmed the voice. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"My name is Aren Obsidian, though some call me War Eagle." said Aren, properly introducing himself.

"AREN...THAT NAME MEANS COURAGE IN A LANGUAGE LOST TO THE UNIVERSE...WAR EAGLE IS A FITTING NICKNAME FOR YOU." said the voice, a sense of pride welling up with Aren. "AREN...LET US PROCEED!" A massive roar tore through the clouds, a bright light forming from where the hidden figure was. The light turned the being's outline into the that of a card, which then floated into Aren's hand, where it then released an even brighter light, blinding the Obsidian.

When Aren opened his eyes, he was back on the duel field. He flipped the card he had drawn over, and everything became clear.

"From my hand, I activate the Ritual Spell Dimension Dragon Descent!" shouted Aren, playing a spell that depicted a shadowed beast within a blue line of energy descending onto a destroyed world. "I Tribute Monsters from my hand and field whose total Level equals or surpasses the Dragon-type Ritual Monster that I'm Ritual Summoning from my hand or my Deck!" As he said this, a bronze brazier etched with dragon-claw marks descended from the sky.

"A Ritual Spell?!" shouted Shark in disbelief. "When did he get that?!"

"Dimension Dragon Ritual?" questioned Rio. "I've never heard of that card before. Shay, did you know about this card?"

"No." said Shay in complete shock. "I never knew anything about it." These words caused the Kastle's to react in shock.

"I tribute from my hand Level 5 Enigma Eagle Shadow Lanius, and Level 4 Enigma Eagle Hummingbird Healer!" shouted Aren, discarding two cards. The spirits of the two Enigma Eagles turned into balls of green fire, which flew into the brazier. All of a sudden, the red fire engulfing the field turned a light shade of green, and a windstorm kicked up.

"What's happening?!" shouted Aiko, the wind whipping embers into the cyclone of fire around the brazier.

"From the mists of a world long destroyed, I call upon this Monster to tear the oppressors of the innocent from reality! I Ritual Summon Crush Claw Ritual Dragon!" called out Aren. The cyclone of fire dissipated to reveal a massive blue quadrupedal dragon, equipped with curved claws on each foot that were sharper than anything else in the world. From its spiked back emerged two triple-edged wings, spikes pointing out from each edge. The end of the dragon's tail was as sharp as a sword-blade, but the most piercing thing about the beast had to be the pure-white eyes that sparkled with an unnatural brilliance. The dragon let loose an ethereal roars that sent screams through the audience and shivers through their spines. **(LV. 8; ATK: 2800; DEF: 2000; WIND)**

"What...what is this beast?!" shouted Aiko in horror. What surprised him even more was that Grand Solar Dragon suddenly bowed its head, as if it had come to life somehow.

"Unbelievable!" projected Nico Smiley's voice. "Aren has turned this duel upside down and summoned a dragon of his own, and a Ritual Monster no least!"

"He summoned a Ritual Monster straight from his Deck." said Declan in shock, completely taken aback by this turn of events.

"Crush Claw...Ritual Dragon…" said Zuzu, instantly flashing back to witnessing Yuto's Duel with Sylvio. As she snapped back to reality, she noticed that Yuya had clutched his chest, apparently in slight pain. "Yuya! Are you okay?! What's wrong?!"

"I don't know...my chest is burning for some reason!" gasped Yuya, Sora watching in confusion. "What kind of Monster is that thing?"

"So you must the Monster from my vision…" said Aren in awe, his new Monster settling on the ground next to him, bringing its head up to the War Eagle. "Crush Claw Ritual Dragon."

' _IT IS MY HONOR TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE YOU, AREN OBSIDIAN.'_ responded Crush Claw, his robust voice booming within Aren's mind. ' _LET US PUNISH THIS FOOL FOR HIS MISGUIDED WAYS!'_

"I activate Crush Claw Ritual Dragon's effect!" said Aren, lifting his right hand up. "Once per turn, I can destroy every Level 5 or higher non-Ritual Monster on your field, and Crush Claw gains 400 attack points multiplied by the combined Levels of all the Monsters blown away from the battlefield by this effect!"

"What an effect! That's insane!" said Rio.

"With that power, Aren can win in this turn…" breathed Shay, his eyes glued upon his brother.

"Tempest Levity!" shouted Aren as Crush Claw began to glow. The Ritual Dragon flew into the sky, positioning himself directly above his new master. A blast of emerald lightning was released from his front claws, moving directly towards Aiko's dragon.

"I don't think so!" shouted Aiko, picking up a card with a stylized "A" on its back off the ground. "I play the Action Spell, Mirror Barrier! With this, Grand Solar Dragon is safe from your Monster's effect this turn!" A transparent orb surrounded the Fire-attribute Monster, forming a protective barrier against the lightning blast.

"No you don't!" shouted Aren, running over to the last building still standing. Doing a series of backflips, he jumped off of the ground and onto the top of the building, also picking up an Action Card. "I play the Action Spell, No Action! This negates your Action Spell's effect, so Grand Solar Dragon is still destroyed!"

"This can't be happening!" shouted Aiko. His eyes widened as for a moment, he swore Grand Solar Dragon turned its head and growled at him, giving the Dueling Dynamo the feeling that his Monster had just laughed at him. The Fusion Monster exploded into a mist of yellow sparkles, leaving Sagiri defenseless.

"Since Grand Solar Dragon was a level 10 Monster, Crush Claw gains 4000 attack points due to his effect!" said Aren, his Ritual Monster roaring as his strength grew. **(Crush Claw Ritual Dragon ATK: 2800 + 4000 = 6800)**

"6800 attack points?!" shouted Aiko in disbelief.

"It's go time!" yelled Aren. "Crush Claw Ritual Dragon, attack Aiko directly! Ravaging Radiant Ripper!" Crush Claw's front claws glowed a grand shade of blue, as the Ritual Dragon raised his front left foot. Aiko screamed as four razor-sharp claws tore directly into his sternum, sending him flying back into a small patch of ground somehow not singed by the blaze.

 **AIKO LP: 5150 - 6800 = 0**

As Crush Claw's body returned to his card, Aren pointed at Aiko, who looked up at the Xyz/Ritual user with tears streaming down his face. "You have no right to call yourself a Duelist...now you will pay the price for your malicious ways…" Aren moved his right hand to a button on the right side of his mechanical arm, intending to do something he hadn't done in weeks: turn a defeated opponent into a card.

' _Do not proceed any further.'_ said a voice in Aren's ear. A radio signal was being transmitted to the frequency of his mechanical eye.

"Declan." said Aren back softly.

" _This is a tournament, not a battlefield...yet. Please refrain from carding your opponents."_ said Declan. " _I don't think you want to scare the audience anymore than you already have."_

Aren said nothing for a moment, then shut his eyes and turned around, leaving the crying Aiko where he was. The Action Field disappeared, but where there should have been cheering there was complete silence. Aren had struck dumb every member of the audience.

"...We have a winner! This match goes to Aren!" said Nico, nervousness evident in his voice. "I must say...that was quite the display...hopefully we don't see anything that serious again…"

"That was quite the showcase of strength." said Kit in disbelief.

"You know, for as many times as I've seen Aren Duel," said Julia, "I don't think I've ever seen him lose his cool."

"I remember now why I don't want to get on his bad side." added Dipper.

"That was no Duel…" said Yuya in shock. "It was an all-out war…"

"Yeah…" said Sora, his eyes still narrowed. "It sure was…" As he said this, his eyes drifted to Shay on the opposite side of the stadium, a sinister feeling rising in his chest.

' _Crush Claw Ritual Dragon…'_ thought Aren, staring at his partner. " _Soarnight, are you there?"_

" _Ugh...yeah, though quite singed."_ responded Soarnight, his soot-covered spirit appearing next to the War Eagle.

"I'm not sure why," said Aren softly, as he exited the stadium and began walking back to Declan's office, "but something tells me that meeting our new ally was more than just destiny…"

* * *

 **{Next Chapter: A Field of Flames}**

* * *

 **With Aren, Shark, and Rio all successfully through to the 2nd round, Shay fights Sora Perse, the suspected Duel Academy agent. As the audience watches, they soon realize as the two trade blows and insults that Aren's display was nothing compared to what they were witnessing now...**


End file.
